What Would Life Be Without Cybersecurity Awareness Month?

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the National Cyber Security Alliance has some tips in this infographic that are worth reviewing for everyone (and sharing within any organization). As criminals become more sophisticated, keeping aware while online means keeping yourself and your company protected.

Here are some tips:

1. Keep a Clean Machine: Make sure computers are updated with the most recent software, including the most recent security software updates. Remember that mobile phones, ATMs, point of sale systems and tablets require updates as well!
2. Lock Down Your Login: Not only are strong passwords important, but utilizing dual-factor authentication, biometrics, or one-time passcodes are important steps to include where they are available to add.
3. Back it up: Make replication a key part of business continuity with ongoing backups to cloud or hard drive storage solutions. Keeping replicated data in different locations throughout the country is an important aspect (don’t keep backups at the same locations).
4. Bring Your Own Device: More companies are sifting to BYOD environments, which raises questions about data ownership, location, accessibility, etc. Have strong controls through third-parties that help to ensure security of data, including an ability to wipe devices that are stolen or otherwise compromised.
5. When in Doubt, Throw it Out: That’s right – get rid of what may be suspicious. Even if it appears to come from someone you know and trust, ensure the email address is real, and someone’s not spoofing a name in a message through an alternative domain. This is a growing concern, and an lead to some really big losses for companies. Be mindful of what’s being clicked on, as malware can enter from any sender.

There’s always plenty of suggestions on keeping things safe online, but the reality is that for any organization the employee’s present the biggest security threat. Training is important, and ongoing training even more so than just annual doses of updates.

These are all reminders, and are all topics that we’ve written about previously, which makes information easy to find within our news sections.

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