Short Circuit Protection of High speed Data lines
OK, in all honesty: then the purpose of the development board is to learn to avoid these mistakes.

The solutions to this particular problem (needing error-resistant high-speed off-board communications) usually involve transition to a specific far-reach bus. 

Your "problem" has a "solution" that would make your original problem, talking to peripherals, so much more complex that it's not really a "solution" any more.

If your peripheral can destroy your controller, then take care to not wire it incorrectly. That's typically not really hard, compared to other engineering pitfalls. For example, you'd design an adapter board that has one side very clearly labeled "signal" and one side labeled "output", and if possible, two different connectors on each. Problem solved.