5 cybersecurity habits I teach in every talk

When I give the talk The future is protected today I always start with a question: “How many of you have had your Instagram or WhatsApp hacked, or someone in your family?”. Lots of hands go up. It was almost never a sophisticated “hacker”; it was a well-written message, a reused password or a phone that was never updated.

These are the five habits I ask people to adopt today. They cost nothing and prevent most of the problems I see.

1. A different password for every account (and a manager to remember them)

The rule is simple: if one password leaks, it cannot open another door. Nobody remembers 40 different passwords, which is why password managers exist (the one built into your iPhone or Android, or a standalone one). You memorize one long password; the manager invents and stores the rest.

A long, easy-to-remember password is worth more than a short “hard” one: red-tower-prints-2017 beats J3an!.

2. Two-step verification on everything that matters

Email, Instagram, WhatsApp, your bank. Two-step verification makes the password alone useless. In WhatsApp it is called Two-step verification and it is a six-digit PIN; turn it on today, it is the first thing I ask for in the talk and it takes a minute.

If the app offers a code app or a physical key instead of SMS, even better.

3. Distrust the urgent message

Almost every scam follows the same script: urgency + fear + a link. “Your account will be suspended”, “you won a prize”, “it’s your cousin, I changed my number, I need a loan today”. Before you tap any link or send any code:

• Verify through another channel (call the person, open the official app).
• Never share a code that arrives by SMS. That code is your key.
• If someone asks for “the six-digit code you just received”, it is an account takeover, every time.

With artificial intelligence, the messages no longer have typos and they even imitate voices. The defense is still the same: verify through another channel.

4. Update your phone and your apps

Every update closes doors that someone has already figured out how to open. A phone that has not been updated in a year is a house with an open window. Turn on automatic updates and you are done; no more thinking required.

5. Keep a backup of what you cannot lose

Photos, documents, your thesis. If ransomware, theft or a fall into the water takes your phone, the only question is: do you have a copy? A cloud (the one that comes with your phone) plus an external drive every now and then is enough.

Bonus: use AI with your head

In the talk I also cover artificial intelligence, because students already use it for everything. Three rules:

1. Do not paste personal data, passwords or confidential documents into tools you do not control.
2. Verify what the AI tells you when it matters (a quote, a figure, a medication).
3. Use it to learn faster, not to avoid learning.

Why this matters for the country

The Dominican Republic needs far more cybersecurity talent. Every time I ask a classroom who plans to study something related, one or two hands go up. If these five habits sounded interesting to you, maybe that career is for you. Tell me and I will gladly point you in the right direction.