As seasonal sales push new electronic devices, TSTC has tips to help protect investments

(HUTTO, Texas) - Black Friday and holiday sales are upon us, and many people will buy high-tech electronics. Stuart McLennan, the Cybersecurity program instructor at Texas State Technical College's East Williamson County campus, recently offered some pro tips for those new devices.

McLennan said usernames and passwords are the first things to change.

"Default names and preset passwords are huge security risks," he said. "Default names make it easy to tell if a system is a Windows PC, for example. Using biometric IDs is also more secure than passwords when they're an option because they (biometrics) are harder to crack."

Changing a device name has the added benefit of knowing which device is your own when you need to connect other devices, such as headphones with Bluetooth. McClennan said that is a feature to use carefully too.

"If you don't plan to use features, stuff like Bluetooth should be turned off," he said. "It is possible for Bluetooth devices to connect without a user knowing. Bluetooth has been known to be used to hack devices."

McLennan also recommends checking for software updates, even if it looks like the updates do not change anything.

"A new device may not always have the newest, most secure version of its software," he said. "Attacks that were fixed in a more recent patch or update may still work on it. Software updates come with a lot of updates you don't see. They're bug and security fixes. One, for example, could turn Bluetooth off by default."

McLennan said different companies release updates at different times, and Microsoft usually releases its updates on the second Tuesday of each month.

"It's about making it more difficult to infiltrate than it's worth," he said. "Keep it secure, keep it safe."

Cybersecurity is one of TSTC's performance-based education programs in which students can move through their training at a flexible pace.

TSTC offers an Associate of Applied Science degree and certificates of completion in Cybersecurity, and an advanced technical certificate in Digital Forensics Specialist, at its East Williamson County, Fort Bend County, Harlingen, Marshall, North Texas and Waco campuses, as well as online.

Spring registration is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.

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