Two of the experts on the trail of Hunted’s fugitives – 2nd in command Peter Bleksley, a former undercover police officer and ace investigator, and cyber security specialist Paul Vlissidis, technical director of global information security firm NCC Group – help us come up with a list of dos and don’ts for those who want to vanish.

Do: ditch your smartphone

Bleksley and Vlissidis agreed the number one thing to do is ditch your mobile phone. Around 70 per cent us in the UK have a smartphone, most of which transmit a GPS signal of our current location, or apps that do so.

“As soon as you make a digital connection with your phone,” says Vlissidis, the apps are up and running and giving info away about you. People often give these apps permission to geographically locate them without realising it.”

“Basically a mobile phone is akin to having a tracking device on you,” says Bleksley. “Even if location services are disabled the state has the means to track you.”

Timescale: minutes. “There has to be some communication between the mobile phone company and law enforcement,” says Bleksley. “But in a mission critical situation – life or death – the red tape is cut through and police are given that info in as close to real time as possible. “

Don’t: use bank cards

“You wouldn’t want to be using any kind of cards.” says Vlissidis. “Or your ApplyPay device unless you really want to get picked up quickly,” “If you have time to plan, gather quantities of cash.

Timescale: minutes. “If a bank card or account is flagged by us that account is monitored 24/7” says Bleksley. “The minute there is any activity the information is quickly passed to the police,” says Bleksley. “Systems have been honed over the years to ensure that information comes almost instantly. From there it’s a just question of how quickly officers on the ground can move.”

Do: torch your tablet, lay waste to your laptop, pulverise your PC

“Before you run try and eliminate your digital footprint, which is difficult,” says Vlissidis. “We can gain an extraordinary amount of information from accessing accounts, social media etc. If you planned your escape, it will be in your search engine history.” If you asked questions online, there will be a record. “Anyone who thinks that private chats on social networks are actually private is an idiot. Even if you deactivate your account, it disappears from public view but all the information is still there and generally the state has the ability to access it.”

Read the Whole Article