It’s that time of the year again. The leaves are changing color, the wind is chillier, and Christmas decorations are already out at Target. Today is October 1, and for a decade now that means it’s also the first day of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Last week, SolarWinds, working alongside SANS, released the results of an information security survey, involving more than 120 government IT professionals. It was conducted to identify the impact of cybersecurity threats and the use of security analytics and intelligence to resolve those threats. We’ve reviewed their report and have identified these five interesting takeaways:

It has become a top priority for government agencies to maintain a secure directory without limiting the amount of data users can access. The Federal CIO Council’s subcommittee created the FICAM mandate to protect sensitive personal information amidst cybersecurity concerns. Learn how the DLT Solutions Professional Services team worked with Oracle solved an agency's security challenge.

During this panel, experts compared and contrasted security risks, responsibilities, and approaches of on-premise IT and the shared security model of the public cloud. Conversations explored topics from FedRAMP, shared resources, continuous monitoring, data management, and automation.

Jim Wiggins is the Executive Director of the Federal IT Security Institute (FITSI). FITSI is a non-profit organization that provides a role-based IT security certification program targeted at the federal workforce. Jim was a keynote speaker at our recent GovDefenders Cybersecurity Virtual Event. His presentation was, “Building the Next Generation of Cyber Defenders" which you can now watch for free.

John Nicholson's is the President of the Washington D.C. Metro Chapter of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and was a keynote speaker during the GovDefenders Cybersecurity Virtual Event. We've just posted his video: Security & Legal Issues in Cloud Adoption.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published the fourth revision of the cybersecurity guide, Security and Privacy Controls for Federal information Systems and Organizations - or "SP (Special Publication) 800-53". Here are a few thoughts.

DLT Solutions has been a corporate member of the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) for several years. We support the organization's conferences and serve on several NASCIO committees. This year's Midyear Conference was held in April in Washington D.C. and was attended by about 500 state CIOs, CIO staff members, and corporate sponsors. The event is usually rich with panels on topics of keen interest to members and presentations by Federal Government officials, and this year was no exception.

The GovDefenders Cybersecurity Event is now on-demand! Register and gain access to eight educational sessions, two keynotes, a panel, and over 100 cybersecurity resources from the world's top IT providers - for free.

In a blog published weeks ago, Van Ristau coined the term "cyberpain" to describe the daily headache you get as a result of keeping your agency cybersecure. You've told us the constant pounding only gets worse when you're trying to explain the complexities involved to others. So we've developed this cybersecurity infographic.