Katz, Dumitras Featured in Washington Times Article on Cybersecurity

Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2) faculty members Jonathan Katz and Tudor Dumitras were featured in a June 12 Washington Times article focusing on cybersecurity. The article detailed steps small-business owners and individuals can take to protect themselves from becoming easy targets for digital marauders.

“One thing overall that’s important is to be aware of risks but not be overly paranoid,” said Katz, professor of computer science and director of MC2. “Criminals look around and try to find an insecure network. They’ll go for the weakest link by scanning hundreds of commercial sites. You don’t want to be one of the weak ones.”

This can include making sure you have an encrypted connection between you and a website, not downloading anything from an unfamiliar source, and coming up with a password that is easy to remember, but hard to guess, such as a long lyric or phrase instead of a single word.

“It’s sort of cyberhygiene,” said Dumitras, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. “They don’t prevent attacks 100 percent, but they will reduce their likelihood.”

To read the full article, go here.