Cybersecurity warnings apply for Olympians in China, all internet users

When you think about how much of your life is on the phone, you want to protect all that information.

Officials are worried about digital security at the Winter Olympics.

Before the Games, the FBI released a notice warning of malicious cyber activities and urging athletes and visitors heading to Beijing to watch or compete to use temporary phones while they're there.

Raleigh-based tech security expert Craig Petronella said any connection to a cell tower or Wi-Fi can open the door for hackers.

He warned about China, "Surveillance happens in that country, so they're gonna capture and look for information they can get data from."

While the FBI is not aware of any specific threat, U.S. security officials are worried about Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft.

There's a lesson in that concern for everyone, whether traveling to China or connecting to free Wi-Fi at the corner coffeeshop.

"You don't know who's on that network that's in the corner, and they may be snooping or sniffing traffic," Petronella said.

He recommends layers of security anytime you connect to an unfamiliar network. Use a VPN connection, which creates a safer, encrypted tunnel to the Internet, and employ multi-factor authentication.