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How do you protect your gear and data (aka your livelihood) when you're travelling the world?
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InformationSecurityForNomads.md

https://bit.ly/informationsecurityfornomads

Information Security for Nomads

How to protect your gear and data (aka your livelihood) while travelling the world?

Passwords

Data

Internet connection

Gear

Financials

  • Credit cards
  • Never share your credit card details over the phone, or at least use a virtual one
  • Crypto-currencies
    • Ledger sells an excellent Bluetooth hardware wallet that you can use with your smartphone, the Ledger Nano X, that I use personally. And here is a video that explains how to set up and use a Ledger Nano X.
    • Trezor
    • CryptoSteel: to back up your mnemonic in the safest way possible, or create a cold wallet
    • Exodus
    • Coinbase Wallet

Borders

  • Do not share your social network info with customs
  • Lock your phone with your PIN before crossing the border (disable biometrics)
  • Avoid giving away your IMEI

Best practices:

  • keep your software up-to-date! Apart from the "miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes", software updates often contain security patches. And if you don't apply those patches, you leave big security holes open and hackers love to exploit those. This is especially important for your operating systems, but also for other software. Want an example?
  • if you create a new account, use your password manager’s browser extension to generate a unique random password systematically
  • you can use your password manager to store your credit card numbers, it’s much safer than inputting them manually in a public place where there might be security cameras around, or people watching over your shoulder
  • never open an attachment you receive from somebody you don’t trust, even what appears to be an image or a movie
  • never answer an email that asks you for your password or some other secret info, it’s most likely phishing. Your bank or technical support will never ask you for that over email or even phone.
  • avoid writing your credit card details in an email or on paper (rentals), and don't shout it over the phone (or use a virtual credit card)
  • if you give your password to someone for help, change it right away after, even if you trust your friend not to use it themselves, you don’t know how they will protect it from others
  • on public wifis, always use your VPN. Sometimes some wifis will prevent you from using your VPN application, but they can’t prevent you from using OpenVPN with Tunnelblick
  • you can check if some of your accounts have been compromised and if your private data is circulating out there on this website: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
  • one of the most common hacking techniques is social engineering: somebody calls you or sends you an email pretending to be someone else or some trusted service, and asks you for your login information or password or other personal info. Take into account that companies will never ask you for this kind of personal information over email or phone, and if they do, you should not work with them. Double check any email, any link, any phone call that asks you for your credentials or personal information.
  • Beware of random USB keys!
  • Never share a picture of your boarding passes, especially if they show the QRCode on it. It usually contains a lot of personal information, some of which can be used to impersonate you on airline websites, cancel your reservation, upgrade you with your miles without you knowing, see your other reservations, etc. For more information, see this article.
  • If you are not sure about the wifi at your Airbnb or some other place, or if you want to make sure there are no hidden cameras, you can use Fing to scan your network
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