Devices on the road
A laptop is most often lost in a taxi, a café or a hotel room. Prepare before the trip so that a lost device is only a lost device.
Before you leave
Install pending updates and make a fresh backup. Check that the disk is encrypted: BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on a Mac, and switched on by default on current phones that have a screen lock.
Take only the devices and files you need. What stays at home cannot be lost on the way.
On the way
Keep the laptop bag with you. Do not check it in, do not leave it in a car, and do not ask a stranger to watch it. In a hotel, a room safe is better than a table, and taking the device with you is better than the safe.
Switch off automatic joining of Wi-Fi networks and turn Bluetooth off when you are not using it. Charge from your own adapter.
If a device is lost
Speed matters more than certainty. Use the find-my-device service to lock or erase it, tell your IT team, and change the password of your email first, then of everything else the device was signed in to.
With an encrypted disk and a good screen lock, the finder gets hardware and nothing else. Without them, they get your mailbox.
This note is our own plain-language summary. For the full guidance, read the original: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/holiday-traveling-personal-internet-enabled-devices
Encrypt it before the trip. After the loss it is too late.