Protecting Your Portfolio and Client Files When Working Abroad

Love it or hate it, work trips are still a big part of corporate life. While Zoom and email work a treat on the day to day, they can’t replace the relationship-boosting value of an in-person meeting with a client or stakeholder. Besides, you get a change of scenery for a few days, and that bolstering feeling of being some kind of jetsetter. 

Still, you need to keep a sharp eye on your most precious assets: your portfolio, and the files you keep on your clients. 

Securing Your Connection on Unfamiliar Networks

The idea that a public WiFi connection is risky is one that most of us are aware of by now, but, in practice, it can feel far too abstract and ‘Couldn’t Be Me!’ to actually stop us from connecting when we’re in a pinch. A long wait in the car rental office, with only three other people in sight…what could be the harm in that? A hotel network protected by a password only supplied on paperwork stored securely in guest rooms…surely nobody staying here is bad enough to take advantage of other guests? 

From a distance, you can see the flawed logic, but you can probably also recognise it as reassurances you’ve given yourself when you just had to check your email when there was no service. 

A fundamental tool for any travelling businessperson, business owner, or entrepreneur is a business VPN. Virtual Private Networks encrypt your internet traffic, making it impossible for bad actors to watch what you’re doing. Your login credentials, financial data, client info, and company secrets are far safer on unknown networks if you take this extra step whenever you’re out the house.

Then again, you should still be using it at home, too…

Keeping Client Files Safe on the Devices You Travel With

It’s not just about the abstract, invisible threats floating around in the digital ether. When you’re travelling, you’re also exposing your hardware to a much higher degree of risk than it’s exposed to in your home office. 

Devices can be lost or stolen – a fact which sounds basic when there are so many virtual threats out there,e but that’s exactly why so many of us are so vulnerable to losing our laptops and phones. 

The trouble is, if your laptop ends up with someone else, it’s not just your own data you need to worry about. Anything you store pertaining to your clients, like financial information or IP, could jeopardize your position if it falls into the wrong hands. Full-disk encryption, strong device passwords/biometrics, minimizing what’s actually stored locally, and having a plan if a laptop or phone is lost or stolen abroad are all essential for anyone who is travelling with anything related to their work. 

Navigating Data Privacy and Compliance Across Borders

It’s not just the timezone that changes when you fly across the world. You need to be aware of different countries’ data protection rules – particularly if you’re travelling from the US to Europe, for instance – client confidentiality obligations that travel with you, and precautions around border checks or device searches when carrying sensitive financial or client information;