If you travel to certain countries, your phone may be infected within seconds of landing by the country's phone system. Reporters covering the Socci Olympics in Russia reported how instantaneously their phones were infected upon landing.
You are pretty safe in most developed and democratic countries, however those with repressive governments often can infect phones, particularly those of foreigners and business travelers. China, Russia and others can plant viruses that are undetectable to phone and computer anti-virus programs.
Mini-cell towers run by spy agencies, placed where business people and VIPs stay and visit can infect a phone when in the range of the fake cell towers. They work like normal, but infect you all the same. Same with hotel WiFis in such countries frequented by business people and foreign officials.
Your best bet is to backup your phone and then wipe it and reload the operating system before you go, so your personal identity and account information can't be compromised. Load only the essential information and apps. Assume during your trip that every transmission will be captured and act accordingly. Upon your return, wipe the phone again, and then restore all the data, settings, passwords, etc you had beforehand.
You can get a "burner" phone for the purpose for the best security, with only essential accounts and apps. You can take it to an even higher level with VPNs and not loading your email accounts but having an assistant only send you emails that need your attention to a temporary email account. You'll of course need a VPN in China.
Never let such equipment out of your sight either. Literally. It only takes a few minutes to infect or rob data from equipment.
This is especially important if you are travelling for business, as foreign governments can spy on phones and computers and give your data to their domestic companies. Keep sensitive or competitive data and password-protected accounts off your phone for the duration of your visit.
Practice the same safeguards with laptops, tablets and other devices.
Contact us for more security advice and assistance before you travel.
