Save The Sharing Till You Get Home - Travel & Social Media Safety

There is usually a lot of excitement about going on vacation, or even on a business trip, and if the trip goes well, there are new experiences to be discussed. And up to the advent of cell phones you usually had to wait till you got home to tell friends and family about the experience. And to show them your photographs.

Of course, now you can share each moment of a trip in real time with friends and family, and sometimes, thieves and scammers.

The problem is that we are creatures of habit.

We have come to depend on our smartphones for just about everything - from communicating to banking. And we have become accustomed to the gratification of an nearly instant response when we post something. It is just like having your friends there.

Now, however, that can include people you don't really know.

"Keep it secret" is the best advice, and here are some ways to do so:

1. If you are traveling don't announce it on social media, or a blog, and if you need travel advice, ask it privately. And if you can't contain yourself in your excitement please don't put dates and travel details.

2. It is actually advised to have a separate phone specifically for travel, which only has minimal personal data on it. If you cannot do this make sure that your security settings on your banking, and social sites are updated.

3. Try to avoid using public Wi-fi. If you need to a public hotspot look for secured public Wi-Fi that requires a password. Look into purchasing a portable Wi-Fi device, which will help you avoid using public Wi-Fi.

4. Turn off anything to do with location-identification so that it doesn't appear in your posts, and keep an eye on your social media notifications in case you are tagged in a travel photo.

5. Do not share flight information. This type of information can be used for anything from virtual kidnappings to social engineering that  targets businesses.

6. If it is a family trip make sure to talk to your children about online safety, and make sure the security settings on their phones are updated.

7. Don't post or "check-in" while on the vacation.

8. Save the Sharing till you get home! No matter how excited you are save all of those photos and comments till you arrive home. If that seems overwhelming use a social media scheduler for X.  Facebook no longer allows third-party apps to post to personal pages.

And I am guessing a few are saying, "But I have my privacy and security settings locked down. Only friends can see it."

That goes back to the question of "how well do you know all of your social media friends?" While hopefully this is a very rare case you can read here of a family whose home was burglarized by some of their daughter's Facebook friends.

When traveling pretend like it's the "old days," and save your photographs and fond memories till you come home.

Resources:

Security Intelligence's "Five Tips to Stay Safe on Social Media While Traveling"

Nationwide's "7 Social Media Vacation Safety Tips"