Practical guide
Digital preparedness
A power cut or network failure can stop phones, the internet, apps and card payments. With a few habits, your essential information stays within reach even offline.
Essential contacts without a phone
Your phone's address book is no use if the battery is flat or the phone breaks.
- Write down the most important numbers: family, out-of-area contact, doctor, neighbours, school, work. Keep one copy in your wallet and one in the kit.
- Learn at least one or two numbers by heart.
- Export your contacts to a file (vCard format) and keep it on a USB drive with your documents.
- Use the family plan as one up-to-date list.
Documents available offline
Put together a small set of the documents you would need if you had to leave home or online services were unavailable:
- ID documents and health cards;
- prescriptions, treatment plans, important medical reports;
- insurance policies, tenancy or property and utility contracts;
- numbers to block cards and accounts, written on paper.
Keep paper copies in a waterproof pouch and digital copies on a password-protected or encrypted USB drive. Don't store passwords in plain text in unprotected files.
Backups: the 3-2-1 rule
A simple rule so you don't lose important photos and files:
- 3 copies of important data (the original plus two copies).
- 2 different media, for example your computer and an external drive.
- 1 copy away from home: a reliable cloud service or a drive kept by a relative.
- Turn on automatic phone backups and occasionally check that you can restore a file.
- Print the recovery codes for your main accounts (email, bank, digital identity) and keep them somewhere safe: without your phone you may not receive login codes.
- A password manager with a printed “emergency kit” helps you get back into your accounts.
Phone and payments ready
- Keep one or two power banks charged and a cable for each phone.
- Download offline maps of your area.
- During an outage, switch on battery saver, lower the brightness and close apps you don't need.
- In a power cut, card terminals and cash machines may stop working: keep some cash in small notes and coins. The European guidelines also suggest, where available, a digital payment method that works offline.
- Write down the number to block your cards and your bank's customer service.
Reaching service providers during an outage
When the internet or phone lines are down, set up alternatives before you need them:
- Electricity: in Italy, faults are reported to the local distribution company, not the company that bills you. The fault number is on your bill: write it in your family plan.
- Water and gas: note the emergency numbers of your utility, also on the bill.
- Phone and internet: note your operator's support number and try another line, for example a neighbour on a different network.
- Listen to local radio and check official municipal channels to find out whether the outage is widespread.
- If you rely on electrically powered medical equipment, ask your doctor and energy provider in advance what procedures exist during a power cut.
Spotting suspicious messages and scams
During and after an emergency, scams that exploit fear and urgency increase. Here are some invented but typical examples:
“Power cut refund” text
Dear customer, due to the power cut you are owed a refund of €87.40. Confirm your card details within 2 hours: bit.ly/•••••
Why it is suspicious: Urgency, a precise amount, a shortened link and a request for card details. No energy company asks for card details by text.
Fundraising after a flood
URGENT! Families left homeless. Donate now to personal IBAN IT00 X000 0000 0000 0000 0000 000. Forward to everyone!
Why it is suspicious: An IBAN in a private person's name, no recognisable organisation, pressure to forward. Only donate through official organisations and channels you look up yourself.
A call from “the bank”
“This is your bank's security team: there has been a cyberattack. To protect your account, read me the code you are about to receive.”
Why it is suspicious: No bank asks for login codes, PINs or one-time codes over the phone. Hang up and call the number on your card yourself.
“Official EU emergency kit”
Order the MANDATORY 72-hour kit required by the new European rules. Last few left!
Why it is suspicious: The European guidelines are not mandatory and the EU does not sell kits. The guidelines themselves call for discouraging fear-based commercial offers.
Fake alert forwarded in a chat
Civil Protection message: evacuate the whole area tonight, pass it on!!!
Why it is suspicious: No source, no official link, a request to forward. Check the official channels of your municipality, region and civil protection service.
Five steps to check
- Stop. Urgency and fear are the first warning signs.
- Don't use links or numbers in the message. Look up the official contact yourself, for example on the back of your card or on your bill.
- Never share passwords, PINs, one-time codes or card details.
- Check the news with official sources: your municipality, region, civil protection service and reliable media.
- Report attempts to the police (in Italy, the Polizia Postale) and, if you shared bank details, call your bank immediately to block your cards.
IT-alert messages in Italy
IT-alert is Italy's national public warning system: it sends messages to phones in an area affected by a serious imminent or ongoing emergency. No app is needed. Messages are one-way: you don't need to reply and you are not asked for any data. Read the message and follow the authorities' instructions. More on the official IT-alert website.
Help people who are less digital
Prepare a paper contact list with older relatives, explain the most common scams and agree on a word or question to use on the phone to check who is calling.