Passport numbers, credit card details, and travel rewards programs – all of these are ripe pickings for cyber criminals. Protecting your online safety when booking travel and when travelling abroad is more important than ever. Follow these tips and consider these points in order to always stay safe online. 

Make sure that all of your devices are protected with strong passwords

One of the most important things you can do for your online safety is to protect your devices with strong passwords. The same advice goes for all of your online banking and travel accounts. Make sure that you regularly update these with strong passwords, and enable two-factor authentication.

Two-factor authentication necessitates that you enter a second ID form before you can access your account. This usually means that you must input a code that has been texted to your smartphone or emailed to you before you can access your sensitive information.

Book your trip safely from the get go

Your online safety concerns should start the minute that you start booking your travel. The first thing you need to do is ensure that you are booking your hotel, car, and flights with a reputable online company.

If a website pops up offering a price much lower than you are seeing on more trusted and familiar booking engines, you need to do some additional research. No online reviews? Has it just be registered in the past few weeks? Just say no.

Any legitimate travel and e-commerce site should be utilizing stringent encryption in order to protect your credit card number and other personal data. Ensure that you can see a lock symbol displayed next to the site’s URL. Trust the old adage – if something seems too good to be true, it likely should be avoided. 

%TNT Magazine% iStock 975732182


Be Wary of Scams Designed to Steal your Points and Miles

Travel rewards are a hotter commodity than ever. While you might think that paying for a holiday by redeeming your credit card loyalty points is a completely secure process, you are still at risk. Loyalty and rewards plans fraud is on the rise, so ensure that you only ever redeem your points through the official membership channels. 

Feeling any doubt? Notice anything amiss? Pick up the phone and give them a call on their official customer service line. Make sure that you shred all boarding passes, membership statements, or account info – treat it as you would a credit card bill.

Be careful when playing games online

When you are travelling in new places, new pop-ups and ads for casinos and games might appear on your laptop and phone. However, you can’t always trust all gaming sites and apps. Some have been designed specifically to dupe you out of your passwords and money. 

So, how can you protect your online security when gaming abroad? You need to ensure that any gaming site you use abroad uses a comprehensive data encryption system so that your personal information is protected. You should also check all sites and apps to ensure that they explicitly state that they do not sell your information to third parties.

Watch out for ‘Free WiFi’ 

When you’re on the road, it can be tempting to hop onto any open WiFi network that you see. You want to upload those photos to Instagram, and check your email! However, if you are travelling abroad, you need to be extra careful about strange and untrusted WiFi networks.

Free WiFi networks, especially in touristy areas, could easily be a fake hot spot set up by a cybercriminal with an eye on your info. Only use WiFi that has a trusted security encryption. Feeling any doubt? It’s safer to wait for a connection from a trusted source. 

%TNT Magazine% iStock 471651996

Stay Safe, and Bon Voyage!

As long as you follow these tips, you can enjoy your vacation abroad without worrying about compromised online safety. It pays to stay safe, as dealing with online security breaches can ruin your travels and leave you scrambling to fix the damage. Use these tips to stay safe – happy travels.