Communication while travelling involves the increased risk that attackers may try to fake an identity (both in person and electronically) or assume an authorised identity, such as through disguises, spoofing methods, hijacking, or man-in-the-middle attacks. Users can be deceived about their communication partner’s identity to the point that they disclose sensitive information. Attackers can obtain a false digital identity by spying on a user ID and password, manipulating the sender field of a message, or manipulating an online address, for example.

Employees do not always know foreign business partners personally. If an employee trusts a stranger who introduces themselves as a particular business partner and has background knowledge that person would have, the employee may pass on valuable information. In reality, however, it could be a fraudster posing as the business partner.

Security requirements in terms of confidentiality and integrity can never be fully met in buildings that do not belong to an organisation, especially in foreign countries. There is always a residual risk that even equipment that would normally be classified as secure could be tampered with. This includes, for example, the use of caller ID on a telephone or the ID of a fax sender to fake an identity and obtain information.