blog.tibidat.com

I was robbed over the weekend. Phone and wallet - both gone. In this day and age that is considerable inconvenience.

The phone is my primary means of offline communication and, thanks to Google Authenticator, also a critical component of my digital life as a whole. Additionally, suddenly being broke is rather upsetting.

Overall it could have been much worse. And while the financial loss hurt, my phone was fully encrypted and I managed to lock all cards before anything fishy could happen. It did make me feel rather vulnerable and was a considerable hassle to get everything back in order¹. I really have to thank my brother, for generally being awesome and just being a huge help throughout this mess.

So I thought I should share some general advice on how to prepare yourself for a similar situation:

• Keep some cash at home. This will allow you to cover unexpected expenses or fees that might result from your situation and keep the fridge stocked.
• Keep photocopies of your most important documents.
• Having a secondary wallet can be a huge boon.
• Encrypt everything! Especially your phone! Unfortunately, encryption is a double edge sword. On the one hand it means your data is safe, on the other it lowers the chances of recovering your stolen equipment to near zero (since the thief will never be able to actually boot it back up)
• Ensure you keep a record of important numbers, such as debit card numbers, credit card numbers, passport numbers and your phone’s IMEI. In Germany these kind of details are required for the police report.
• Have a secondary phone or Skype account with credit available.
• Keep a short checklist for theft-related vulnerabilities. Examples are: a list of cards to lock/block, procedure to remote wipe your phone, alternative access to 2FA protected services, secondary means of communication
• Make sure you are aware of if and what kind of damages your insurance might cover and how long your claim window is.

The most important thing is to stay calm. Just remember: in the end it is just money. All of the people that helped me to get things back in order were incredibly understanding and really friendly.