Are you likely to use your computer at a hot spot or hotel? If so, you need to be aware that internet connections at either spots are increasingly being used to infect travelers’ systems with malware. According to a report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) – a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) – hackers are now using a pop-up window to target travelers when they try to establish an internet connection.

The IC3 reports that the majority of these pop-ups are to lure the user into an "update" for a "widely-used software product"; the specific details about what the software update claims to be are not provided. When a user clicks to accept and install the update, malicious software is installed on their system instead. The FBI recommends that those who travel abroad "perform software updates on laptops immediately before traveling, and that they download software updates directly from the software vendor’s web site if updates are necessary while abroad".

As a cautionary measure, the report asks that any users who believe they have been targeted with this kind of attack to contact their local FBI office and report it to the IC3.