A Practical Guide to Staying Safe When You Travel and Work

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If you’re a seasoned traveler, you’ve likely picked up a whole host of helpful personal safety tips by now. However, traveling while working, rather than purely for leisure, introduces many new safety concerns you might not have considered. After all, you now have work devices and working relationships to protect!

This guide focuses on ensuring their safety while touring the globe. Take our tips to heart and make the most out of your arrangements without having to worry about theft, nosy people, or connection security.

Ensure Your Devices’ Physical Safety

Having your laptop or phone stolen right from under your nose is by far the worst-case scenario, so keeping them safe is a top priority.

Get a backpack that has a secure laptop compartment close to your back instead of placing it within easy reach. Keep your smartphone close at all times and resist the urge to place it down on the table in coworking spaces or cafés. Invest in a Kensington lock so no one can grab and run off with your laptop.

Deter Snooping

Crowded places are perfect for shoulder surfing, so don’t enter any sensitive information or access confidential files when surrounded by lots of strangers. You can also buy a privacy screen that drastically reduces viewing angles. Be sure to also always lock your devices as soon as you stop using them.

Being generally discreet will go a long way. That means not leaving printed documents out in the open or discussing confidential matters with clients if someone could overhear the conversation. If you’re not sure, err on the side of caution.

Keep Your Files Safe

The best way to protect sensitive work files from exposure while traveling is to store as few as possible locally. Follow that up by logging out of cloud storage accounts unless you’re actively using them. It’s also a good idea to encrypt laptops and any external storage drives you bring. This makes file exposure far less likely, even if someone steals the device.

The above also helps make border crossings smoother and safer since border agents won't be able to check the laptop, etc., as thoroughly. Better yet, create a dedicated profile you can bring up if you know that a country you're traveling to has strict border controls.

Be Wary of How You Connect Online

It’s never been easier to go online when traveling abroad, whether in a dedicated coworking space, from your Airbnb, or a coffee shop. Most people connect to the Wi-Fi without a second thought since it’s free and convenient. However, ease of access also attracts bad actors who compromise or mimic these networks in hopes of tricking people into stealing their data or infecting their devices with malware.

Your best bet is to carry a portable hotspot with a dedicated Wi-Fi connection or use mobile data through an eSIM. For example, if you’re traveling to the States, get an eSIM plan for the USA, so that you can ditch the inflated roaming fees. Alternatively, you can activate a VPN before connecting to networks that would otherwise be unsafe. The VPN will encrypt the connection and hide your IP address, preventing tracking, redirection to malicious websites, and access to sensitive files or conversations.

Be sure to disable automatic connection features as well. That includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, and any other means of communication someone could use to transfer malware onto your device.

Keep Personal and Business Use Separate

Having dedicated devices for business and personal use while traveling is impractical. Even so, you can still take precautions that help keep data clean and contained. Creating separate profiles on each device is the logical first step.

Make the divide clearer by loading appropriate apps onto each profile. If there's overlap, be sure to set up distinct business accounts with unique login credentials. Also, remember to disable cloud sync, as it could accidentally send confidential files to personal accounts and vice versa.