Searches at the US border are at an all-time high. Between April and June of this year, US Customs and Border Protection says it searched nearly 15,000 devices, outpacing the previous quarterly record by over 2,000. Combined with visitors allegedly being turned away for content on their devices and hours-long detentions at ports of entry, it’s reasonable to be a little worried about entering the US.
There’s a lot you can do to protect yourself at the US border, but most people have at least some sensitive information they need to keep on a phone or laptop while traveling. That’s where 1Password, the password manager, and its Travel Mode feature come into play.
Although it can’t remove everything, Travel Mode can erase a lot. The way it works is simple: You organize your logins, notes, attachments, and other sensitive information into a series of vaults. From there, you can choose which vaults are safe for travel and which aren’t. When you turn on Travel Mode, your selected vaults aren’t only hidden; 1Password claims they’re entirely removed from your device.
A Password Manager Is a Golden Goose
The legality and scope of device searches at the border are complex. Broadly speaking, CBP can’t deny entry to US citizens or green card holders if they don’t comply with a device search. But they can make your life really difficult, with longer detentions and device seizures. “You can state that you don’t consent to such a search, but unfortunately, this likely won’t prevent Customs and Border Protection from taking your phone,” according to the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
According to CBP’s own policies, “Officers may not use the device to access information that is solely stored remotely.” Unfortunately, those policies may not always play out cleanly. “This is essentially a limitless authority that they claim for themselves to search travelers without a warrant and to search the full scope of information people carry on them,” says Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.