We’re back this week with 10 more personal and digital security tips for you to implement into your regular travel routine. These tips are not only good if you are traveling to a foreign country, but can be implemented into your daily routines.
Personal Security Tips
1. Awareness.
If you’re like me, when you are on vacation, all you want to do is zone out and relax; but you still have to stay aware of your surroundings. A good technique I like to use is to just stop and people watch for 5 minutes. You would be amazed at the things you notice when you get off your phone and watch for 5 minutes. Go to a park, stop at a cafe, or sit in the lobby of your hotel for 5 minutes and become aware of your surroundings. This short technique will help keep you safe the entire day, as your mind will readjust to the local surroundings, helping you pay attention to the flow of the environment. Criminals are looking for easy targets and by being aware of your surroundings you will be less of a target.
2. Information Security.
It is exciting to land, get into a taxi and begin telling the driver about all of your plans, or even sitting at a cafe, talking to your loved ones on the phone, about the travel plans, but you need to be conscious of who is around and listening. There is a saying in the military that ‘loose lips, sink’s ships’ and it refers to talking around others that listen. It is ok to ask for advice, but limit the information you provide and keep small talk to generalities instead of personal information. Hopefully, you have been paying attention and you are not using a random taxi, but even a trusted taxi could share your information with someone else.
3. Get a Local Phone Number.
Communication is the key to personal security. In many countries, you can get a local sim card from the airport and it is oftentimes inexpensive. By getting a local sim card, you are greatly increasing the likelihood of being able to communicate well in the event of an emergency. An international plan is good as a backup, but there are very few times an international phone line will work better than a local sim. More often than not, your international sim will not have a signal, while the local phone will. Older phones which are not smartphones are the best, easiest phones to carry around while traveling. The batteries last for days instead of hours so if you are in a location where the power is not consistent, you are still ok. Additionally, older phones are also less attractive to thieves so leave your smartphone secure in your bag and use the local number instead.
4. Don’t Assume.
Don’t assume. Assuming can get you a lot of trouble and result in inconvenience. There are many places in the world that businesses are closed on Sundays. Yes, your international brand hotel will likely be serving food, but a lot of other services and attractions may be closed. I want to make this point and hope it hits home that assumptions are based on local knowledge, experience and the information you have gained. When you are traveling to a foreign location, your level of knowledge is likely to be reduced and by assuming you are inherently making a decision based on limited knowledge. If you do not know or are unsure – ASK.
5. Respect the local CULTURE!
Every society has good, bad, and strange elements of their culture. It is not your right as a tourist to come in and try to change things, rather, you should acknowledge and respect those differences in culture and even try to learn from them. I am not saying you have to participate in the various cultural activities that make you uncomfortable, but from a security standpoint, by disrespecting someone’s culture, you can find yourself in conflict pretty quickly, especially if alcohol is involved. As an avid traveler, I find it difficult to understand why someone would disrespect someone for a simple reason of doing something different.
Digital Security Tips
1. Avoid or limit Bluetooth use.
Bluetooth on your devices is a convenience but also can be a vulnerability. It is likely that your device is set to scan for open Bluetooth connections in the vicinity even if you have the automatic connection setting disabled. That makes you vulnerable. Bluetooth scans are the gateway that hackers are waiting for. It’s better to disable the Bluetooth completely until you get back home or are in a trusted location such as your hotel room.
2. Use Prepaid credit cards.
Using credit cards while traveling might be the opposite of what you have been told in the past. There is a chance that they can put you at higher risk, but there are also many control measures with most credit cards, unlike cash. Always take the time to notify your credit card company you are traveling so they can put certain restrictions on the card, and monitor it for unusual activity. An even more secure option is to get prepaid credit cards. I say cards plural because it not only ensures that you have a credit card that is accepted i.e. American Express, MasterCard and Visa but also protects you if you lose a card or it is stolen. If you have a $1,000 USD planned for your spending money while on vacation, then you can split that money between several prepaid cards, and keep some as cash (in the event cards are not taken where you are). Prepaid cards also reduce the chance of you being a victim of identity theft.
3. Don’t use public computers.
Where possible, avoid public computers. I understand there are times you don’t travel with your computer on vacation so limit the use of public computers and use the business center in major hotels instead. It is common for people to fall victim to identity theft or have their accounts hacked after visiting an internet cafe. Keystroke loggers or other system surveillance is easy to set up on public computers and can record everything you type, including your passwords. In some cases, there is no way for you to tell if one of these software programs is being used unless you are the administrator, so the best bet is to just avoid unknown or trusted computers.
4. Use Caution When Printing Documents
There will be times during your travels where you will need to print a document, ticket, itinerary or directions and there is no convenient place to do it. As I mentioned above, stay away from public computers, and this goes for printers at an internet cafe as well. Instead, use the business center at a major hotel. Use a media stick or thumb drive to transfer to the printer instead of emailing it to a print. Most printers have a slot where you can insert and print directly from the media stick, this prevents the information from being stored or shared with others. Remember once you are done printing, always check the printer tray to make sure all your documents have been collected. I can’t even count how many times, I have gone to a printer and found copies of emails, flight tickets, or hotel reservations left sitting in the tray because copies were left behind.
5. Use Encryption
Even by taking all of the security precautions mentioned, you could still end up with your device stolen or lost and if you are like me, the information on your phone, such as the photos from your trip, is more valuable than the phone itself. A hacker that physically has your phone can take the time to crack the password and gain access to the phone and/or computer, so it is advisable to encrypt your devices and/or files. This way if the hacker gains access to the device, they have a useless file if it is properly encrypted. There are plenty of commercially available encryption programs out there. Some are even free and I would avoid those. As the saying goes ‘you get what you pay for’ and if it is free, then you are giving away your information for free because the encryption probably will not be as secure.
Safari Njema and until next week… Salamu.