Sian Victoria © - Woman using mobile while travelling

Cybersecurity—it’s one of the most important yet underdiscussed aspects of staying safe while travelling. Whether you’re backpacking solo, going on a family vacation, or even checking out the best beers around the world, it’s crucial to keep your data safe.

After all, you face greater digital risk when travelling. As tourists or travellers, your passwords, bank accounts, and precious travel photos are juicy targets for hackers and cybercriminals.

The good news is that staying safe doesn’t require a lot of technical know-how. Here are 10 practical but simple cybersecurity tips for staying safe while travelling.

1. Use Strong, Unique Passwords

Your account passwords are your first line of defence. Unfortunately, too many people use weak passwords that can be easily guessed. Passwords like:

“12345”
“Password”
“myphone”

Many also use phrases that are connected to them or their family members, like a birthday or a name. It’s therefore no surprise that 46% of people have had their passwords stolen in 2024.

Strong passwords should:

Be at least 8-12 characters long
Have a mix of letters (both upper and lowercase), numbers, and symbols
Never refer to public information about the account holder.

2. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

But one password is often not enough nowadays. Multi— or two-factor authentication (2FA/MFA) provides an extra layer of protection. It does this by requiring you to verify your identity a second time after logging in with your password. Typically, you’ll need to enter some code sent to your phone, email address, or MFA phone app.

So even if a hacker gets your login credentials, MFA can still prevent them from gaining access to your account (unless they also hacked your phone or email address).

Before heading out to travel, make sure you enable MFA on all the accounts and devices you’ll use.

3. Use a VPN on public Wi-Fi

Chances are, you’ll need to hop onto public Wi-Fi while hanging out at airports, hotels, or coffee shops during your travels. The downside is, you can’t always count on these networks being safe. A virtual private network (VPN) is an app that secures your internet connection. Instead of connecting straight to public Wi-Fi, a VPN sends your connection through protected servers.

Whether you’re using a VPN on your Android phone, a Windows PC, or an Apple device, be sure to always turn on a trusted VPN when you’re using public Wi-Fi—especially if you’re signing into important accounts like your bank, email, or work platforms.

Sian Victoria © - Browsing on an iphone in a hotel room

4. Keep Your Devices Up to Date

Before heading out, make sure all your devices—and the apps in them—are all updated to their latest versions. After all, many updates include security patches that fix vulnerabilities hackers often exploit.

It’s particularly important for apps you’ll regularly use during your travels. Your banking apps, navigation apps, and communication apps. If possible, turn on automatic updates. So if a new update drops while you’re on the road, your app will automatically get the update.

5. Beware of Public USB Charging Stations

That convenient USB charging port at the airport or hotel might not be as safe as it seems.

Man, cybercriminals use these ports to hack into people’s devices—a technique called “juice jacking.” Through these USB ports, they can install malware or siphon your data.

So be safe and use a standard power socket or a power bank. If you absolutely must use a USB port, consider investing in a USB data blocker. It’s a cheap device that only allows power to pass through the port, not data.

6. Use Temporary Emails for Travel Bookings

Here’s a bit of an underrated travel hack: use temporary emails. They’re particularly useful for signing up for hotel Wi-Fi, travel updates, or local deals. After all, signing up for these things typically means you’re also signing up for their promotional materials—and maybe even phishing links.

This keeps spam and phishing attempts away from your primary email, making you far less likely to fall for them.

This also helps if your email ends up in a data breach while abroad. At least nothing of personal value will be gone or compromised if that email gets stolen.

7. Keep Physical Control of Your Devices

Cybersecurity isn’t just digital, of course—losing your devices physically also means losing your digital data, more or less. Always keep your gadgets near you when visiting different places. Never leave them unattended at public places (airports, hotels, cafes, etc.).

Make sure to turn on location-tracking features (Apple’s “Find My iPhone” or Android’s “Find My Device”) to help recover them should they be lost too.

If you have kids with you, consider labelling their devices with contact information in case they’re misplaced.

Sian Victoria © - Browsing iPhone storage

8. Limit Real-Time Social Media Posting

It’s tempting to share your cute family photos as soon as you take them.

But posting in real-time only informs potential burglars that no one’s currently at home. (It also informs criminals in the place you're visiting of your whereabouts!)

Always wait until you’ve returned home—or at least moved on from that location—before posting. And never post your exact location, too. For example, if you’re checking out the famed Helles beer in Munich, there’s no need to indicate the exact bar or pub you’re in!

Remember to tighten up your social privacy settings, too. Make it so only close friends can see your posts.

9. Back Up Your Data Regularly

Sometimes, however, unfortunate things just happen. Whether through theft, drops, water damage, or mere misplacement, you might lose your data.

So make sure to regularly back up your files, particularly sensitive ones like travel documents, photos, and contacts.

Set up automatic cloud backups. Or consider bringing a secure external drive to manually put copies of files every few days. If your device is stolen, a backup could spell the difference between total, permanent data loss and an inconvenience.

10. Teach Cyber Safety to All Family Members

Kids and elderly family members probably don’t know much about cybersecurity.

So before you head out, take the time to properly educate them about cybersecurity, both how to stay safe and how important it is.

Show them how to spot suspicious links, how to use VPNs, or how to tighten up their social media privacy settings. Consider using family safety apps or enabling parental controls on your kids' devices, too.

Remember, a group is only as strong as its weakest link. So, make sure everyone has a strong understanding of how to stay safe online.

To conclude

Taking these cybersecurity precautions is far from the most glamorous part of travelling. But it’s not only critical, it’s also easier than most people think.

Implementing them keeps you safe, which affords you complete peace of mind. And with that, you can focus on what travelling is about: enjoying your time and making memories with your loved ones.

Follow & Support