With the holidays coming up, you might be gearing up to go on a vacation. Vacations are for kicking back and relaxing, but it is also important to stay safe. Just like you need to watch out for pickpockets, dangerous areas and other safety hazards, it’s also a good idea for you keep to your technology safe. Going on vacation opens up technological vulnerabilities that could cost you. The following tech safety tips can help you stay safe on your next vacation.
Get Tech Chores Done Before You Leave
The problem with going on vacation is that you don’t know how secure the local wifi connection really is. Hackers often use open or vulnerable wifi signals to access data and spread malware. For this reason, it’s a good idea to get all of your ‘tech chores’ out of the way before you leave for vacation. This includes downloading podcasts and movies for the trip and making financial transactions. The less time you spend on the internet during your vacation, the safer you will be. Following these tech safety procedures ahead of time mitigates the cyber dangers of traveling.
Take What You Need
Just as time on the internet should be kept to a minimum, you should only bring the technology you absolutely need during your trip. If you don’t need your laptop, leave it behind. Any tech item that is stolen can be used to access your private information. As for the technology you do bring along – back up and clear them of any sensitive data like financial documents and stored passwords.
Clear Your History
This tech safety tip may not be obvious, but it’s very important. If a technological device of yours is stolen, browser history, the cache, and saved passwords will all be at the fingertips of the thief. This not only gives access to your private information, but shows them the websites that the data can be used on. If a hacker finds out your bank password, they still don’t know which bank you use. If they have your browser history and bookmarks, you make it much easier on them to find out.
Temporary Passwords & Updates
While on the subject of passwords, it’s a good idea to replace your passwords with temporary ones just for the trip. Even though this is not recommended, people often use the same password for multiple accounts. If technology is stolen from you with a temporary password, they will only have access to one account, rather than all of them.
Furthermore, it is absolutely essential that you update your security software and applications and make sure all of the latest patches and drivers are installed. This tech safety tip reduces your chances of getting infected by malware while traveling.
Don’t Share Your Vacation Plans
In the age of social media, we often feel that it is our duty to broadcast all of the exciting details in our life to the world. When it comes to vacations however, this is not a great idea. If you make a post that tells everyone you will be away from home during a certain time period, you are increasing the risk of being robbed. If they read your the post, they know the exact times they can rob your house without being bothered. This is essential to both physical and tech safety.
Tech Safety Professionals
These tech safety tips will only get you so far when it comes to cyber security. For the ultimate protection, get in touch with IT experts. Bay Computing & Consulting Services is a team of highly trained and experienced IT professionals ready to help you out. Our Remote IT Services can solve your tech issues no matter where you are. Whether you are a big business or just a PC owner, we have you covered. Contact us today!