Safe Personal Computing

For general recommendations on safe computing practices with personal computers and mobile devices, the Information Security Office offers some guidance at https://security.utexas.edu/secure-yourself-quick-guide. This guidance mirrors many of the recommendations and requirements for university work on UT owned computers. Please visit that page for the full guidance, but see below for the main highlights.

• PASSWORDS AND OTHER SECRETS - Account compromises are the now the number one source of security incidents at the university. Use good passwords. Use different passwords for different things. Store your passwords where they are secure and easy enough to access that you are not tempted to re-use them. If you use the same password in multiple places and one of those places is compromised, it is certainly the case that someone will try to use your user name and password elsewhere. Also use two-factor authentication with your account anywhere it is available.
  
  • For personal use we recommend either LastPass (https://lastpass.com) or 1Password (https://1password.com).
  • For university work and on university computers you should use Stache (https://stache.utexas.edu) to store passwords and other sensitive" secrets." Stache can also be used to share sensitive information securely with other UT faculty and staff.
• FILES - The less data you store on your computer the less you have to worry about. You should store important data in a reputable cloud service. This keeps you from having conflicting copies of files across different computers or multiple computers for you to search for files.  Also, cloud storage provides a place to recover files from if your computer is lost or stolen.
  
  • For personal use we recommend Box (https://box.com), DropBox  (https://dropbox.com) or Google Drive (https://www.google.com). Use good passwords for these and enable them for two-factor authentication.
  • For university work and on university computers you should use UTBox (https://utexas.account.box.com) instead. Alternatively, you can use the OneDrive associated with your university Office365 account (https://office365.utexas.edu) (https://utmail.utexas.edu). These are already protected by Duo. You can also Google Docs associated with your UTMail account (https://utmail.utexas.edu), but you will need to manually enable two-factor authentication for it.
• ANTI-MALWARE - Install an anti-malware tool.
  
  • For your personal Windows computer we recommend Immunet (http://www.immunet.com).
  • For your personal Mac OS X computer we recommend either Sophos (https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx) or Avast (https://www.avast.com/en-us/free-mac-security).
• ENCRYPTION - Encrypt your drives. If your computer is lost or stolen or you sell or donate your computer without wiping it first, then this will still protect your data from being accessed.
  
  • On Windows 10 you can enable BitLocker encryption using the instructions at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028713/windows-10-turn-on-device-encryption

    • Unless you have Windows 10 Home Edition in which case please see https://www.windowscentral.com/how-enable-device-encryption-windows-10-home

  • Mac Users should use FileVault which is documented at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204837

  • For instructions on how to encrypt your iOS or Android device please see https://security.utexas.edu/secure-yourself-quick-guide#tab-91057

  • Hard drives on university owned computers should already be encrypted by BitLocker or FileVault.

• WIPE YOUR DATA - Even if you took every precaution to keep sensitive data off of your hard drive and even if you encrypted it you should always wipe the data from your drive before you sell it, give it away or throw it out.

  • Here are some general recommendations for how to wipe drives on Windows and Mac computers: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-wipe-a-hard-drive

    • For Windows we recommend CBL Data Shredder (http://www.cbldatarecovery.com/data-shredder/), or if you have Solid State Drive please see https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/erase-or-wipe-ssd-windows-10.html for instructions.
    • For Mac we recommend you follow Apple's instructions at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065.

  • You should also wipe your mobile devices as well before getting rid of them: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/how-to-completely-wipe-your-phone-before-selling-it

  • We remove drives before sending them to surplus and then turn them over to the Information Security Office for secure destruction. If you wish to have your drive completely destroyed you may turn it over to Tech Support (techsupport@mccombs.utexas.edu) to be included in the next batch.

  • If you do not want to destroy your drive you can bring it by the UT Service Desk on the main floow of the Flawn Academic Center. They have a degausser that can demagnetize your drive, which erases the information on it.