Is public Wi-Fi in a hotel or an airport dangerous?

Less than is commonly assumed: almost all traffic is encrypted. Losing the device itself is considerably more dangerous, so that is what to prepare for.

What do I do if the phone is lost abroad?

Block the payment instruments on the numbers written on paper, sign in to the mail with backup codes from somebody else's device and end all sessions from there.

Checklist 02

Travel checklist by Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich

Travel does not change the level of threat, it changes the cost of a mistake. At home a lost phone is an inconvenience; in another country it is the simultaneous loss of communication, money, documents and the means of restoring all three.

English version for the United Kingdom.

Twenty minutes before departure, in order

This page is laid out for printing: only this order of actions reaches the printer.

Split the payment instrumentsA second card and part of the cash kept apart from the wallet and apart from the phone.
Print the backup codesFor the mail and for the banking app. Paper, not a file.
Check the recovery contactsThe mail and the number that recovery will reach must be available without the main phone.
Save copies of documentsSo that they can be opened from somebody else's device with a password you remember.
Write down the bank's numbersOn paper. The international number, not only the short one.
Turn on screen lock and device findingAnd check that remote wipe is genuinely enabled.
Agree with one person at homeThey know you have travelled and can confirm your identity if it becomes necessary.

The main risk is a single point of failure rather than the network

Public Wi-Fi stopped being the main problem long ago: almost all traffic is encrypted. The main problem is that access to money, mail and documents lives on one device that can be lost in a second.

So the preparation is not against traffic interception but against losing the device: a second way in, a second way to pay, and copies of documents somewhere that does not depend on the phone.

What to prepare before leaving

The preparation takes twenty minutes and consists entirely of duplication. A second payment instrument kept apart from the first. Backup codes printed. Copies of documents reachable from somebody else's device.

Separately, check where account recovery will go: if it goes to the number that stays in the lost phone, there will be nothing to recover with.

What is lost together with the phone and what duplicates it

What is lost	Consequence	Duplicate
The payment app	No access to money	A second card kept separately
The second factor	No entry to the mail	Printed backup codes
The phone number	Recovery goes nowhere	A recovery email not tied to the number
Documents in the gallery	Nothing to confirm identity with	A copy reachable from another device
Contacts	Nobody to reach	Numbers on paper

Family

Family checklist by Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich

The most effective protection inside a family is not configured on a phone. It is a handful of agreements settled in advance and out loud, because at the necessary moment the person will be alone and under pressure.

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Recovery

Account recovery checklist by Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich

Recovery is only ever prepared in advance. At the moment access is already lost there is nothing to change the recovery contacts with and nothing to print the backup codes from, because that requires the very access that is gone.

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Breach

Data breach checklist by Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich

A letter saying your data appeared in a breach reaches almost everybody and almost always frightens more than it should. The useful work here is short and depends on what exactly leaked rather than on the size of the headline.

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Questions and answers

Is public Wi-Fi in a hotel or an airport dangerous?: Less than is commonly assumed: almost all traffic is encrypted. Losing the device itself is considerably more dangerous, so that is what to prepare for.
What do I do if the phone is lost abroad?: Block the payment instruments on the numbers written on paper, sign in to the mail with backup codes from somebody else's device and end all sessions from there.