As the travel industry rebounds, new research has found that travel-related cybercrime is also on the rise. While this can be worrying, you should not let it stop you from exploring the world and meeting new people. Instead, you want to make sure you are taking all the necessary precautions to ensure you are traveling safely and smartly. Today’s article will explore a few ways that you can do this.

1. Use A Portable Power Bank

Sometimes when you are in a rush to get to the airport, you forget to charge your phone. Or, you have been sitting in the airport for so long that you have completely depleted your battery life before you even get on the plane. This leaves you with nothing to do during the flight but read the pamphlet detailing the in-flight meal service and what to do in case of emergencies.

When this happens, you want to carry a portable power bank with you. This will allow you to charge your device without using USB ports in the airport. You want to avoid these ports because hackers have started to install fake USB ports that let them steal your personal information without you even realizing it. Portable power banks are just one of many tech products you should pack with you when you’re traveling, and according to ExpressVPN’s tech kit article, these products will also help you in other emergencies outside of travel-related crisis’. Other products include flash drives with important documents on them, such as your passport and birth certificate.

2. Book Flights And Hotels From Trusted Sources

Every day, a new flight or hotel booking service is popping up that offers the lowest prices, persuading people to move away from reputable sources like TripAdvisor. As tempting as these prices may be, there is a high likelihood that cybercriminals are behind these emails, texts, or advertisements, increasing your chances of getting phished. Phishing is a type of cybercrime that tries to get you to reveal your personal or financial information by pretending to be a legitimate website or source. Fortunately, as per Microsoft’s phishing prevention article, there are many ways you can detect potential attacks, including recognizing poor grammar or spelling from “professional companies” and generic greetings.

3. Avoid Public Wi-Fi

While it may be tempting to connect to public Wi-Fi when you’re abroad and sitting in a cafe or restaurant, there are many consequences to using a public network. Hackers love to manipulate public Wi-Fi to steal personal and sensitive information, and they do so in several different ways. One of the most popular ways is called a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. According to Jamf Blog’s MITM article, this attack is when a hacker uses public Wi-Fi to inject data into your connection, allowing them to gain access to your browser. Some tell-tale signs that you’re experiencing this attack include getting login pages that don’t look legitimate and fake software updates popping up.

Travel is not something we should take for granted, and even though there are rising concerns over travel-related cybercrime, you shouldn’t let it stop you from exploring new cities and countries. If you are planning on traveling in the new year, make sure you are taking every necessary precaution to protect yourself while you are abroad. That includes buying portable power banks for the airport, only using trusted websites to book flights and hotels, and avoiding public Wi-Fi networks so hackers don’t access your personal information.