Mobile Cyber Self Defense Tech Tips While Traveling – DIY in 5 Ep 258

Опубликовано 21 сентября 2025, 13:01

If you’re planning to travel, especially overseas, this video will help you keep you and your household safe from cybercrime.

Before you travel
Take only the essentials when you pack, since fewer devices means fewer opportunities for loss, theft, or cyberattack. Backup before you pack up, and offload any data you wouldn’t want getting stolen from thumb drives or SD cards you’ll be traveling with.
You’ll be reliant on your phone while traveling, so keep it secure as possible by updating your mobile OS for security upgrades and clearing your cookies and browser history.
Consider a password manager to ensure you have strong, unique passwords. This is especially important for banking and email. Enable multi-factor authentication if you haven’t already.
Research the area you’re traveling to. Different areas will have different risk factors. As a start, search YouTube for pickpocket hunters’ channels for the city you’re traveling to.
Plan for the worst happening. If your devices are stolen or your data compromised, your immediate actions could be essential for damage reduction. Know how to lock down, remotely wipe, and find your device using a computer or other device. Make sure you have your insurance company and mobile provider’s numbers written down somewhere that isn’t your phone.

During your travel
Very important: disable any autoconnect function on your devices. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi autoconnections are liabilities when traveling.

Before connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots in airports, hotels, or cafes, confirm the network name and login protocol with an appropriate staff member. Don’t do your banking or shopping on a public network, and bear in mind your mobile network connection is usually the safer option.
Obvious but worth repeating: never leave any electronics (including external storage devices like USB drives) unattended.

Limit your location sharing. Most websites and apps don’t need to know where you are. Avoid sharing details of your trip on social media and inform those who need to know directly (phone, email, or text).

Don’t get lost! Offload your ‘gram-worthy pictures and videos to avoid phone lag when you’re trying to get directions. Kingston’s DataTraveler Duo 3C (kingston.com/en/usb-flash-driv... is perfect for this, with a USB-C connector for your mobile device, and a USB-A connector for transferring to your laptop after your trip.
Beware juice jackers: devices with doctored ports that transfer data to or from your device while you think it’s simply charging—for example, at a public recharge station. You can buy adapters to prevent this, but rechargeable battery packs are the safest option for travelers charging their devices on the go.

Be alert to phishing scams. Avoid responding to unfamiliar, unsolicited texts or emails, and contact the company directly through official methods if something seems fishy.

Also, watch out for phony apps. Don’t download something just because a QR code prompts you: investigate the developer first, and see if you can download through a trusted app store instead, like Apple’s App Store, or Google Play.

Returning home
Once home, prioritize doing a malware and virus scan on all of the devices you took with you. Next, remove those travel apps like foreign train service or amusement park apps. Check your accounts for any suspicious activity on email or social media, keeping an eye out for unfamiliar logins or password reset attempts. You may want to change all your passwords anyway, just in case.
Many things to remember! However, a little caution and preparedness can save you a lot of stress down the line. We hope you enjoy your travels!

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0:00 Intro
0:35 Before you travel
1:54 During your travel
3:47 Returning home