Have you ever gone on vacation and lost your passport, wallet, or other critical documents? Unfortunately, it happens all too often. However, you can avoid such unpleasant events by taking 1-2 days to prepare and make sure that your most important personal data and identity are safe.
Here are some services and tips that can help you travel with a little peace of mind.
Prevention measures
One of the most helpful things you can do to prevent online identity theft is to let your bank know how long you’ll be away and where you’ll be. This can help you avoid incorrect charges from insecure PoS, but it could also help you avoid having a transaction declined by your bank ’s automated fraud prevention efforts (the bank could reject a transaction that’s trying to be made from an unknown location). You may not even need to call your bank to do this. If you type in your bank’s name and “travel alert,” you’ll be taken to an online portal where you can enter your travel details.
It's also a good idea to scan your personal documents and email them to yourself. Boarding passes, driver's licenses, social security cards, passports, ID cards, any document you don't want to lose, scan it and keep it in email .
However, to do this you need to be sure of the security of the email provider you are using. Check the security and if they do not cover you, choose another provider.
You can also send the scanned documents to a trusted family member or friend, so that if, for some reason, you are unable to access these digital copies, you can access through a third party.
Attention! If you lose your physical passport, you must report the loss immediately to the authorities.
Leave the bills at home
Don't pay your monthly bills onlinewhen you're on vacation. Pay them before you travel. First of all, you're on vacation. You shouldn't have bills on your mind. The most important reason, though, is that logging into accounts and personal data is another opportunity for to be compromised your identity and private accounts
For example, when traveling, you may be forced to connect to WiFi networks that you don't know are secure. Therefore, when connected to such networks , you should avoid logging into accounts and applications that contain personal and financial data.
Use a password manager
If you're trying to check your accounts from a public computer, you're probably exposed to a range of data-skimming software or keyloggers waiting to steal your passwords. One of the best ways to avoid this threat is to use a password manager.
By choosing a good password manager, you limit the exposure of your password while providing you with strong and unique passwords. Two of the most well-known are LastPass and 1Password.
Even with a password manager, once you return home, it's a good idea to change the passwords on all the key accounts you logged into while you were on vacation.
Use a VPN when in hotels or when connecting to public Wi-Fi
Public WiFi exploitation may not be common, but it is still a threat. Logging into a hotel network or any other public Wi-Fi means handing over a detailed record of your Internet. Using a virtual private network (VPN) is the best way to protect yourself. We recommend that you opt for a reputable VPN rather than any free one you find.
