October Observed as a Cybersecurity Awareness Month Around the Globe

Cyber safety continues to be among the top priorities for many organizations, and for a reason. Cyber crime remains one of the biggest threats to businesses, as well as government institutions, and while that fact is acknowledged by lawmakers and business owners, there is still a lot more to be done in order to improve the overall resilience to attacks and reduce the risk of data breaches. To that end, governments around the world are taking various initiatives to raise cybersecurity awareness, such as dedicating an entire month to activities aimed at achieving that goal.   The United States, Canada and the European Union have designated October as a month that will highlight the importance of cybersecurity, launching numerous initiatives that are meant to help organizations become more resilient to cyber threats and improve their overall digital security.  

Addressing the Weakest Points in Cybersecurity

  The U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) holds National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) every October, Canada also has its own Cybersecurity Awareness Month,  and the European Union runs the European Cyber Security Month (ECSM) campaign.   The increased digitization of virtually every aspect of society continues to expand the attack surface and to open more vulnerabilities for threat actors to exploit. In addition to the external threats and the gaps in technology, people are another significant weak point in any organization’s security system. Employees with insufficient knowledge of how cyber threats work put their organizations under increased risk of getting breached, which is why they have to be better informed and learn more about cyber attacks in general, and that’s one of the main goals of the initiatives that governing bodies are running during this month.   Raising employees’ awareness of the growing cyber threat and educating them about the most common techniques and attack vectors used by threat actors is at the core of these campaigns. Helping employees learn about how to recognize an attack attempt and what to do in those situations is crucial for enhancing organizations’ overall cyber protection.  

Most Common Threats and How to Protect Against Them

  Although threat actors keep inventing new ways for breaching security systems, the most common techniques they use are very well known and employees just need to get more familiar with them so that they can detect them more easily.   Social engineering attacks such as phishing and spearphishing are the most prevalent types of threats targeting individuals directly, in addition to a few other lesser known techniques for stealing a person’s credentials in order to gain access to and control over their devices and their organizations’ networks.   In order to educate people about these threats, activities during this month dedicated to cybersecurity awareness include presentations and workshops about social engineering and other types of password attacks, as well as tips on password management and protection. Additionally, employees will be various other tips on online privacy and best practices on using social media.   For more on how you can improve your organization’s cyber security, contact us at curious@quoscient.io.