How to Protect Your Data Like a Cybersecurity Pro

Everyone’s internet-connected devices are vulnerable to attacks, even those belonging to cybersecurity pros. Here’s how experts at UT Dallas protect their data.

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham, the Founders Chair in Engineering and Computer Science and one of the nation’s foremost experts in cybersecurity, uses separate computers for web surfing and for working so that her documents are not connected to the internet.

Dr. Murat Kantarcioglu, Ashbel Smith Professor of computer science, stores his documents on several external hard drives that are not connected to the internet and are kept in different locations.

And computer science alumnus Lucas Castro BS’19, MS’20, a cybersecurity engineer at MITRE, protects his privacy by avoiding social media.

“It’s a good idea to keep in mind that nothing you put on the internet is private,” Castro said.

While many people may not go that far, cybersecurity experts recommend that everyone take the following steps to protect their data and devices:

Use two-factor authentication whenever possible.
Change the default password on your router, which can be an entry point to attack any device connected to the internet.
Keep all devices updated with current software.
Store sensitive data such as tax documents on an external drive that is not connected to the internet.
Encrypt files with sensitive data, and make sure the encryption method meets current standards.
Use different passwords for different sites, and create random passwords with the most characters possible.
Change passwords every six months.
Back up your data to an external hard drive.
Regularly scan your computer for vulnerabilities.
Don’t click any link you don’t trust.