Five Steps You Can Take to Improve Cybersecurity

Quick Start Guide to the Five Steps You Can Take to Improve Cybersecurity

1. Back up your data and store a read-only copy offline
   1. Check for backup solutions on the UC San Diego Research Data Storage Explorer
   2. Contact your unit IT for licensed backup options
   3. Health researchers, visit the Pulse website (login required) for information
2. Use the campus anti-malware tool on Windows, OSX and Linux machines
   1. Visit the campus anti-malware installers page (login required). This tool has been vetted by faculty who advised us on anti-malware approaches.
   2. Health researchers, visit the downloads page on the Pulse website (login required)
3. Use approved campus email services — Office 365 or Gmail (where authorized), using your Active Directory credentials
   1. These services enable sophisticated techniques to detect phishing and other attacks that make email much safer
4. Make sure your servers, desktops and laptops are set up to automatically apply security updates
   
5. Use two-step logins [e.g., multi-factor authentication (MFA) tools like DUO] for your servers and make sure they are behind university firewalls