Business trips and holidays: portable devices, public Wi-Fi and mobile phones securely

7 min read · DataRoad

The safety of portable devices and public Wi-Fi while traveling It boils down to three ideas: the equipment must be encrypted and managed, the accounts must have MFA, and the connection must, whenever possible, be yours — mobile data or the company’s VPN. With that taken care of before leaving, a business trip or a vacation with the laptop in the suitcase no longer poses a risk to the company. Without that, all it takes is a forgetfulness at an airport.

What changes when the team leaves the office

In the office, the firewall filters the traffic; the network is known and the equipment is visible. On a trip, none of this exists. The laptop connects to third-party networks, stays in hotel rooms and goes through X-rays, taxis and waiting rooms. The mobile phones, with email and company applications, even more so.

There is also a less obvious effect: on vacation, people are less attentive. A “bank” or “airline” email arrives when the employee is checking in and responding in haste. According to the CNCS, about half of the 3,864 incidents recorded by CERT.PT in 2025 exploited human factor vulnerabilities, with email phishing, SMS, or social media as the main method.

Checklist before leaving

In the hotel, at the airport and in the café

Public Wi-Fi: Less dangerous than it used to be, but it's still not your network

Today, almost all websites and services use encrypted connections — the padlock in the address bar. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recognizes that this has made public Wi-Fi safer, but reminds that the encryption does not protect against a fake website: the data arrives encrypted… to the hacker. The risks are threefold:

• Fake networks with the name of the hotel or the airport, created to attract links.
• Home pages that ask for personal data, social network credentials, or the installation of “certificates”.
• File and printer sharing visible on the laptop to anyone who is on the same network.

The practical rule: confirm the exact name of the network at the reception, never install anything to “access” it and connect the company’s VPN immediately afterwards. We explain the current role of VPNs in because the VPN alone is not enough.

Mobile data: often the best option

Sharing the mobile connection with the laptop completely avoids third-party networks. Within the European Union — and also in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — the “home-like roaming” regime charges calls, SMS and data at the national price, although the operator may apply a responsible data usage policy. Outside the EU these rules do not apply and the prices can be high: it’s worth signing up for a package before traveling.

Chargers and USB ports

Public USB ports in airports generate many alerts. The FCC, the US communications regulator, says it has no knowledge of confirmed cases, but recommends the simple rule: use the outlet with the own charger or an external battery, and choose “only charge” if the phone asks you to do so.

If the laptop disappears

The first few minutes count. The procedure should be known to everyone before the trip:

1. Inform the IT support immediately, By phone, with the user's name and approximate time.
2. Block or delete remotely. With the managed device, the IT team can remotely replace the factory laptop — Microsoft documents this action in Intune for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. On a Mac with FileVault, erasing the encryption key makes the disk unreadable immediately.
3. Ending sessions and changing the password from the Microsoft 365 or Google account, and review the associated MFA.
4. Presenting a complaint to the local authorities and keep the receipt.
5. Evaluate whether there was personal data at risk. With encrypted disks, the risk is much lower — and that counts in the assessment that the company has to make.

Without encryption and management, none of these steps guarantee anything. That’s why the preparation happens in the office, not at the airport. For teams with Macs, we explain how management works in Macs in the workplace: management, security, and support; for the accounts, in MFA in the company.

A real case: a company on the move

Boost Portugal combines tourism animation, alternative transport and technology, with operations in Lisbon, Porto, Douro and Madrid. In the IT Unlimited contract, DataRoad provides permanent support for users, backups, internet redundancy, remote monitoring with alerts and the management of remote work environment services and VPN — precisely what allows a team spread across several cities to work with the same security as an office. Read the case study Boost Portugal: Unlimited support and monitoring.

The solutions of Remote work and mobility DataRoad includes encryption, equipment management, VPN, and MFA. For those who travel at the weekend or during holidays, the Premium plan 365 It extends the coverage to evenings, weekends and holidays — that’s where a lost laptop usually happens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the hotel Wi-Fi to work?

You can, with caution: confirm the exact name of the network, don’t install anything that the login page asks for, and connect the company’s VPN. If you have enough mobile data, sharing from your phone is usually the simplest and safest option.

Does the disc size make the laptop slower?

In current equipment, the difference is not noticeable in day-to-day work. BitLocker and FileVault are part of the operating system and use the security hardware of the computer itself.

Deleting the laptop remotely also deletes the work?

Delete what is on the equipment. If the files are in the company's cloud and there is backup, the work can be recovered on a new laptop. That is why the rule is to work in the cloud, not in the work environment.

Should employees take their work laptops with them on vacation?

If they don’t need it, it’s safest to stay in the office. If they have to take it with them, the same checklist applies as for a business trip, with special attention paid to blocking the screen and sharing equipment with the family.

Portable devices ready to travel: diagnosis in 5 working days

We checked the cipher, remote management, MFA, VPN, and updates on all the company's laptops and mobile phones, and made the loss procedure ready to use. For companies with more than 10 workstations · contract of assistance · remote, local, and telephone support.

Sources

• Microsoft Learn — BitLocker overview
• Apple — Volume encryption with FileVault
• Microsoft Learn — Intune: Wipe devices
• Your Europe (EU) — A journey like at home
• FTC — Are public Wi-Fi networks safe?
• FCC — Juice jacking: tips to avoid it
• Lusa / DNoticias — Data from the CNCS on incidents in 2025