October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month
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.
When the Department of Homeland Security launched this initiative, the world of IT security was a completely different landscape, limited to the backrooms of IT departments. Back then, the media didn’t pay attention, Anonymous was just beginning to “organize,” mobile phones were simply used for calling, clouds weren’t taken over by buzzwords, and your biggest cyberthreat probably came from a “Nigerian prince” asking for help in acquiring his million dollar inheritance.
Today, cybersecurity is not only part of an agency’s daily routine, but it’s increasingly a concern for everyone. That’s why it’s important that we do our part to bring awareness to cybersecurity threats, ways to defend yourself (and your networks), training methods, open source security, and new ideas and technologies to protect you from evolving and complex threats.
Over the next month, we’re going to feature guest writers from IT companies, the public sector, and educational institutes. Each one will bring their expertise and insight into a facet of cybersecurity they feel you need to know.
We’re also going to feature a resource a week that we think makes for must-read-reading. Which brings me to this post, a review of GovLoop’s Winning the Cybersecurity Battle report, the second in an ongoing “Agency of the Future” series. The report features articles from leading cybersecurity brands SolarWinds, Symantec, and Dell Software.
The key survey takeaways worth noting are:
- 10% of respondents said their agencies were fully prepared for an attack: The 90% that are unprepared is big; but those 10% also must realize that in today’s world, you can never fully prepared.
- Viruses, phishing, and Trojan horses are the three cyberattacks that concern respondents the most: Each of these cyberattacks can be a result of an employee clicking on the wrong link.
- 21% of respondents cited staffing and training as a challenge: This has been an ongoing problem and one that we’ll further address in an upcoming article.
- 30% of respondents identified sophistication of threats as their biggest concern: The government identified 12 cyberthreats, but there are infinite ways to deploy each one.
The report also includes eight articles, each worth reading. Our favorites are:
- The Importance of Assessing Your IT Environment
- 19 Metrics to Track Your Cybersecurity Efforts
- Private Sector Solutions for Federal Government Cybersecurity
- What Does It Mean to be Secure?
For your convenience, we’ve embedded the report below. Enjoy!
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