I would like to thank Digital Nomad Jobs for publishing this article. Their site is a fantastic place to find practical tips and trips to create the life of your dreams. After reading this, be sure to check out their post on what it really means to be a digital nomad.

laptop1

Being a digital nomad comes with uncountable benefits: you’re free, you can travel wherever you want, and you’re in control of your work. However, one major drawback to this lifestyle is that, if something ends up happening to that work, you’re the only one to blame.

Losing a project or having important files corrupt can be a nightmare for those working remotely. Particularly when on-the-go, a failed job could mean a serious pay cut, which could leave you in some particularly sticky situations. Because of this, it’s essential to take the following five steps to protect your work and ensure you can maintain a safe and stress-free lifestyle.

The Right Tools

Cyberthreats aren’t a particularly new concept, and because of this, there are loads of great tools available to help you stay secure. It’s important to ensure every device you use to work on is properly protected. Simple steps, such as a security suite and firewall software, are a great place to start.

If you’re running a website or hosting work online, it’s also wise to look for security plug-ins. There are plenty of great browser extensions available and platforms such a WordPress offer numerous security add-ons to help customers stay safe.

The Internet Connection

One of the greatest vulnerabilities you face when working as a digital nomad is as a result of the WiFi networks you chose to connect to. While home networks have built-in security features in place, public and open hotspots are notoriously unsecure. You can even run into rogue points that are set up specifically to collect personal information from unsuspecting users.

Fortunately, this can be overcome simply by having a Virtual Private Network installed on any machine that you use for internet access. This handy software package creates an initial secure connection that mimics a home network, encrypting your data and allowing you to browse safely and securely.

 Strong Passwords

 You may have had this point re-iterated to you a hundred times, but as a digital nomad, it’s time to actually listen to this simple advice. Ensuring that all of your passwords are strong, complex and unique is essential as a first line of defense and to minimize the impact of an attack if one was intercepted.

Unfortunately, most of us are guilty of sacrificing security because remembering numerous different passwords can be a major hassle. While recycling old combinations may be convenient, it’s something you’re bound to regret if you end up losing all your work, so taking the steps before it’s too late is extremely important.

If you’re worried about remembering so many passwords, there are plenty of helpful programs and plug-ins, such as LastPass, that will store your combinations and even encrypt them for you.

The Double Back Up 

Everyone knows that it’s important to back up work; however, very few people realize how essential the double back up is! In short, there are two potential ways of making a copy of your work—on a physical external hard drive or via cloud storage.

While both of these systems provide a great service and allow you to protect your work, no matter where in the world you are, both also have their significant drawbacks. Cloud storage is just as vulnerable to hackers as your device is itself, and physical hard drives can easily corrupt if they’re dropped or knocked about during transit.

The best way to overcome both of these problems is to back up your work in both ways. While it’s highly unlikely, it is possible to simultaneously lose the original and back up copy. However, it’s basically impossible to completely lose work saved on three different platforms.

The importance of protecting your work for a digital nomad cannot be re-iterated enough. Losing important files is a nightmare at the best of times, but it’s twice as difficult if you’re also traveling full-time. These are just a few great ways you can begin to protect yourself, but if you know of any more that should be added to the list, then be sure to leave a comment below.

About the author: Jess Signet is a writer, traveler and digital nomad. She hopes this article will give you some ideas and tips whether you are already a digital nomad or are thinking of becoming one. You can follow Jess and her adventures on Twitter at: @Jessstravels

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *