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Timely Tips Best Practices

Timely Tips - Best Vacation and Travel Cybersecurity Tips.

Simple ways to protect your data, devices, and peace of mind while traveling.


Beach scene


Whether lounging on a beach or hiking through the mountains, chances are you’re staying connected online during your trip. From booking hotels to navigating new cities to sharing photos, travel and technology go hand in hand.

The bad news? Criminals know that, too. The good news? A few smart habits can go a long way in keeping your personal information safe, before, during, and after your trip.


Before you go: Prepare your devices.

Taking a few minutes to secure your tech before you leave can prevent major headaches later.

Travel with fewer devices whenever possible. The more you bring, the more you have to keep track of and protect.

Install the latest updates on your phone, laptop, and apps before your trip, especially operating system updates. Updates often fix security vulnerabilities that attackers actively exploit. Turning on automatic updates can help you stay protected while you're away.

Enable strong PIN, password, and biometric multifactor authentication (such as fingerprint or facial recognition) on all devices. If your phone or laptop is lost or stolen, this is your first line of defense.

Activate tracking tools like Apple’s Find My or Google’s Find My Device. These tools let you locate, lock, or erase your device remotely if it goes missing.

Check which apps can access your location and personal data. Disable location tracking for apps that don’t need it while traveling.

Back up photos, documents, and contacts to the cloud or an external drive before you leave. If something happens to your device, you won’t lose everything.

While you travel: Stay safe on the go.

Once your trip begins, a few mindful habits can help you avoid common risks.

Only turn on location services when necessary. Many apps request location access, but don’t actually need it.

Sharing vacation updates in real time can signal that your home is empty. Consider posting photos after you return. We also recommend limiting who can see your posts.

Public wi-fi is generally safer than we often give it credit for nowadays, and most websites now use encryption (look for “https” in the URL). But if something feels off, you can use a mobile hotspot if you have one. Also, you generally don’t need a VPN, and VPNs aren't a replacement for antivirus software.

Keep devices with you whenever possible. If you leave them behind, store them in a hotel safe. Even a quick distraction in a public place can lead to theft.

Disable automatic connections to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks. This prevents your device from connecting to unknown or potentially unsafe networks without your knowledge.

Try not to log into personal accounts on shared or public computers (like at a hotel or internet cafe). If you must, log out completely when you’re done – closing the browser isn’t enough.

For more information, visit staysafeonline.org.

Best Practices

Maintain strong passwords.

Strong passwords make it extremely difficult to break into your accounts. Here are some tips to help:

  • Avoid using words that are easily guessed, such as your child's name or your favorite sports team.
  • Use the greatest combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols that a site will allow.
  • Password managers are a great way to not only create strong, unique passwords - but they also store them securely so you don't need to remember them.

Check the site.

If you are banking or shopping online, check that the site you are using is security-enabled. Look for sites that start with "https://", which means that the site is taking extra precautions to help secure your information.

Connect carefully.

If you're at home, make sure your Wi-Fi network is password-protected so that outsiders cannot log onto your network and gather information. If you're in a public place that offers Wi-Fi access, be cautious of what you send over their network. Try to refrain from banking or other sensitive activities until you're in a more secure location.

Keep it current.

New computer viruses (and new versions of old ones) are being released all the time. So making sure you have the latest security software, web browser, and operating system updates are your best defenses against these threats. Often, you can set those updates to be automatically installed as soon as they become available.