Traveler tips: How to avoid being hacked overseas

—Don't take your work or personal laptop. That's the best advice and a precaution used by major companies and agencies of the federal government, said Anup Ghosh, chief financial officer of Invincea, a software security company in Fairfax, Va. Instead, some employers issue traveling laptops that are clean of proprietary corporate or government information and are scrubbed clean after the employee returns from the trip.

—Don't think you can just keep your eye on your equipment. Data can be captured while the laptop is in customs or if you step away from your hotel room briefly. "It takes five minutes or less to capture information from the laptop," Ghosh said. Lock it in a hotel safe. Use an encrypted drive.

—Get a traveling phone as well, such as a pay-per-use phone. If you take your phone, it should be reimaged on return. Use your screen password on your mobile device so if you lose it, no one can pick it up and read your email or other data.