October Has become Cybersecurity Awareness month since its official beginning on October 4th, 2010. In 2009 the need for this type of campaign was recognized by President Obama and plans were put into motion to heighten awareness. This campaign was designed to make people think before they click. Teaching people about internet safety and how to promote it across all sectors of life, home, work, and community.
The original hashtag still fits as well as it did in the beginning, STOP, THINK, CONNECT. This year’s focused theme is “Do Your part. #BeCyberSmart.” The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) are proud to continue the tradition of promoting cyber awareness for both personal computing and business systems.
Cybersecurity Awareness is divided into themes for each week of the month of October. This year’s themes are as follows:
Week of October 4 (Week 1): Be Cyber Smart.
Week of October 11 (Week 2): Phight the Phish!
Week of October 18 (Week 3): Explore. Experience. Share. – Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week
Week of October 25 (Week 4): Cybersecurity First
Anyone interested in helping to promote cybersecurity awareness is encouraged to post using the hashtag #BeCyberSmart to promote involvement in raising cybersecurity awareness and helping to stop hackers in their own tracks. The CISA website has many free tools and tips to help, as well as access to reporting agencies and topics that anyone can access to learn more.
With the rise of cybercrimes over the last decade, it has become more important than ever to consider the sites we visit and the links we click on. Cybercriminals have evolved to the point where one wrong click can give them access to all your personal and business data. While many IT firms are working hard to override the damage these cybercriminals are causing. The same cybercriminals work just as hard to keep on wreaking havoc and taking data.
More than ever before cybercriminals are taking over systems with their ransomware and charging outrageous amounts to give the systems control back to its rightful owners. Hackers are more brazen than ever and the damages they can cause and ransoms they demand can get astronomical. The good news for most of us is that government agencies who handle this type of crime are also staying on top of the developing trends of hackers.
Colonial Pipeline even recovered a portion of their funds earlier this year thanks to a task force that investigates attacks just like theirs. While they only recovered about half of the money cybercriminals demanded from them, it is better than none. Other industries hit were not so fortunate, such as the meatpacking industry. The meatpackers were already suffering due to the pandemic and shutdowns that halted operations. Recently school districts were targeted, with systems such as air conditioning and many other operations being controlled by hackers who demand a cryptocurrency ransom to stop.
The best defense against these types of hacks and attacks is a good offense. Be aware of the sites you visit and keep all endpoint protections up to date and running. Sophos endpoint protection offers continuous monitoring and mitigation of threats to your system. Their deep learning technology looks for malware both known and unknown and allows for faster response time to prevent the threat from spreading. Keep your data safe with the Sophos line of products for everything from device protection and encryption to server protection. Contact us today to keep your data secure and your privacy intact.
