When travelling abroad for work, such as conference participation or fieldwork, the following measures are recommended. It is the general situation in the country and the context in general that determines which of the measures should be taken in a specific case. Not all measures are therefore justified for all trips, but for trips outside Europe, all should be considered. It is the responsibility of each staff member to make decisions on these and other safety measures in consultation with and support from their department/equivalent.
Before the trip/preparations
- Bring a “clean” computer completely empty of everything other than what you really need to be able to work. A recommendation is to check if your department has an older laptop which can be reset and updated before your trip. It is recommended to not bring any data but to connect to what you need once you arrive at your destination.
- Install a VPN service to access resources, whether they are located inside or outside the country you are traveling to. Be sure to check the laws and regulations that apply in the country regarding the use of foreign services.
- It is recommended to set up a temporary email address (Gmail for instance) and not use your SU email address while on your trip. An idea is to set an auto reply to your SU email address where you direct your colleagues to email to your temporary email address.
- If possible, bring a travel phone which do not connect to the SU network.
During the trip
- Only use your own chargers and USB-devices, do not accept or borrow anything of the kind while on your trip. This includes everything connected via USB such as USB memory sticks, lamps, fans, etc.
- If possible, keep your devices (laptop, phone) with you at all times. It is not recommended to leave your devices for example in your hotel room or in an office while at lunch.
- If possible, do not connect to your SU email address while on you trip, preferably use your temporary email address (See Before the trip/preparations)
- If you are to use any cloud storage services, Sunet-drive is considered the safer option for any kind of sensitive data
- eduroam should be used when available as this is one of the safer WiFi options.
- If possible, try to avoid connecting or log into SU library services for journals, reports, etc.
After the trip
- When back in Sweden, do not connect your travel computer to the SU network. Move your data to a USB drive and ask IT staff at your department/equivalent to go through it for malware before you move it to your SU devices. Also ask that person to wipe and reset the computer, there is not much need for scanning unless they have forensic knowledge, curiosity, know about operational security and have time to spare. The same is to be done with your travel phone.
