Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2022 – Being Cyber Smart!
October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Now in its 18th year, the initiative was originally launched by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance with the aim of providing information to the public regarding all of the cybersecurity competitions, activities, and other things that happen during this month to help raise overall cyber security awareness.
Cybercrime is estimated to cost the global community an
annual figure of $10.5 trillion by 2025, so this year it’s more important than
ever for people to embody the overarching theme ‘Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart’
with your customized corporate slogan on hand! Once you've got your message
down, it's time to start planning for four weeks of cybersecurity goodness
starting with 'Get Cyberfit' and ending with 'Cyberheroes.'
Be Cyber Smart
The first week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month will be
centered around the overarching theme of this year: "Be Cyber-Smart".
This week's emphasis emphasizes how to be proactive about security (Cyber Risk Advisory), which is
important for all levels.
In the UK, of all the businesses that were surveyed, 39%
suffered from a data breach, and 65% of those medium (or large) enterprises.
35 percent of all the businesses surveyed reported having measures in place to
offer protection against such intrusions.
While we can never achieve 100% security against cyber threat
actors, organizations can greatly decrease their chances of falling victim by
implementing good daily routines that work to manage the most common
vulnerabilities and security risks facing the organization. Cyber-attacks
of the sort we're used to hearing about in the news nowadays rarely happen
because evil geniuses have hacked their way into a system. More often than not
it's because a user or an administrator has re-used a password from another
account, or a business hasn't implemented basic security practices since users
sometimes fail to use protection like multi-factor authentication.
Fight the Phish
In May we plan to focus on phishing. Phishing is one of the
most common methods used in cyberattacks and results in an individual being
tricked into clicking a bad link or divulging sensitive information, such as a
password. It can be conducted through the text, email, social media, or even
telephone!
Remote working has a unique set of challenges that aren't
easily overcome. A lot of companies utilize methods such as COVID-19 when
implementing remote work in their teams and the unfortunate downside is that
there are potential dangers to go along with it. Proper cybersecurity measures
are not always put in place when someone ventures out of the office which
leaves your company open to some very real risks. A report done by Cisco
Umbrella's 2021 report found that more than half of businesses had
information-stealing malware in their systems and 86% had at least one user who
attempted to connect to a phishing site.
There are many ways to help prevent cyber fraud. First,
businesses need to educate employees on how to spot scammers. Additionally,
they should put in place policies that control employee access based on their
benefit to the company and trustworthiness they have demonstrated - something
called zero trust principles and privileged access management (PAM).
Explore. Experience. Share
The third week deals with the cybersecurity awareness theme
and is led by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE). The
intended social purpose of this theme is to encourage people, who are already
of a certain age and perhaps have been in the same job for many years too long,
to come up with something new to try on a professional level.
There is certainly more than the cybersecurity industry could
do to make itself more accessible to the masses. As the widening talent gap
reveals, this technology industry needs workers with in-depth knowledge and
being able to communicate it effectively and efficiently. When it comes to
trying to ensure that we hire the most talented people in our field, one of the
ways we can do this is by helping young people form their future. It is vital
that we give young girls an opportunity to get excited about technology because
right now considering how many female managers are in the world of techs, it’s
something that should be changed - young girls should get an opportunity to
express their interest as well because otherwise, they may never get an
opportunity in the first place!
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