October is Cyber Security Awareness Month
2015 has been the year of cyber crime, data breaches, and cyber attacks. We live in a world where we are all unified with our smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Although this constant connection has changed many people’s lives in many ways for the better, it also poses a huge risk for a company’s data such as financial information and health records.
As we have learned from the Office of Personnel Management to Home Depot , no organization is immune to these breaches. All it takes is one click for an organization to become compromised and lose their data and their customers data. These breaches can be incredibly costly to these organizations, whether it’s due from the downtime a website experiences or the potential fines that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may impose. Cyber security is so vital, it even has its own month dedicated to it.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. This October marks the 14th year since its inception by President Obama in 2004. National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) encourages vigilance and protection by all computer users, promoting cyber security as “our shared responsibility.”
President Obama stated in his Executive Order on Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing Proclamation,
“Cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers the United States faces. They jeopardize our country’s critical infrastructure, endanger our individual liberties, and threaten every American’s way of life. When our Nation’s intellectual property is stolen, it harms our economy, and when a victim experiences online theft, fraud, or abuse, it puts all of us at risk. During National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we continue our work to make our cyberspace more secure, and we redouble our efforts to bring attention to the role we can each play.”
The month long awareness program is sponsored by the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and the non profit organization, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). NCSAM’s mission is to engage and educate the public and private sector partners through events and initiatives with the goal of raising awareness about cybersecurity and increasing the resiliency of the nation in the event of a cyber incident.
Axiom Cyber Solutions would like to share the following cyber security tips from the Department of Homeland Security. These tips can help keep your personal information and assets safe online.
- Set strong passwords and don’t share them with anyone.
- Keep your operating system, browser, and other critical software optimized by installing updates.
- Maintain an open dialogue with your family, friends, and community about Internet safety.
- Limit the amount of personal information you post online and use privacy settings to avoid sharing information widely.
- Be cautious about what you receive or read online – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If you are interested in seeing what National Cyber Security Awareness Month activities are near you, please visit: https://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam/events.
If you or your organization needs further help on security, please contact Axiom Cyber Solutions at 800-519-5070
