Absolutely. The ocean’s data are both priceless and vulnerable. If VR or any other tech lets someone snoop or manipulate results, we risk losing years of field work and misleading policy decisions. We need strict encryption, access controls, and clear protocols for who can view, share, or publish data. It’s a lot of work, but protecting the science—and the ecosystems we study—is worth the effort.

We use a few staples in our lab. For encryption I rely on GnuPG and key‑based SSH for any server access. File transfers go over SFTP or HTTPS, always with TLS 1.2 or better. We keep data in encrypted volumes and back them up to a secure cloud bucket that’s locked behind a VPN and a role‑based access system using LDAP or Azure AD. For version control we use Git with encrypted repos and restrict who can push to the main branches. On the policy side we follow ISO 27001 guidelines and keep a simple data‑handling matrix that lists who can read, edit, or share each dataset. Those tools have held up well in the field.

That’s a good checklist. I’ll schedule a quarterly key‑rotation audit and tighten the SSH host list with a static allow‑list. For the SFTP logs I’ll set up a simple syslog parser that triggers an alert after three consecutive failed logins. Keeping the ISO audit trail tight will let us spot any unusual activity before it becomes a problem. Let me know if you need help setting up those scripts.