Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Are You Ready for the Challenge?
By: The SensCy Team
October 1, 2022
By Sarah Woys, Client Advocate, SensCy and Erwan Mahoudo, Cybersecurity Coordinator, SensCy
Cybersecurity Awareness Month, held each October, is an international initiative to encourage everyone who uses technology to do so safely and securely whenever they connect online. Founded in 2004, and co-led by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, it is the world’s leading program aimed at advancing cybersecurity awareness and best practices. This year, SensCy is honored to participate as a National Cybersecurity Alliance Champion through CISA and support their initiative for online safety and education. SensCy’s mission is to build an active cybersecurity culture through visibility and knowledge, so that businesses may be better protected from cyber incidents and prepared to respond and recover should an incident occur.
The focus this month is to take action! SensCy is emphasizing critical cyber practices throughout the month to motivate every employee to proactively take charge of their online lives. There are many ways to keep safe and secure online, but even just following four cybersecurity fundamentals will significantly improve your security:
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication – Multi-Factor Authentication is when a user must provide two or more pieces of evidence to access a company’s systems. For example, a user enters his/her password and then receives a text message on his/her cell phone with an additional code that must be input to gain access. Multi-Factor Authentication helps prevent individuals from gaining unauthorized access to your systems with only a password.
- Use Strong Passwords (and a Password Manager) – A complex password consists of 9-14 characters and has a combination of letters—upper case and lower case, numbers, and special characters ($, %, #, @, etc.). Use of a password manager enables users to store and manage all passwords in one secure location.
- Update Your Software – All servers and devices connected to the network (including personal devices) must be kept updated and patched against the latest security vulnerabilities to best protect data, systems, networks, company, and employee’s personal information.
- Recognize and Report Phishing – Phishing is when a criminal creates a fake email that looks like it’s coming from someone inside the company or another reputable company, which contains a link or an attachment to be downloaded in an attempt to get you to provide your log-in credentials or download malicious viruses. It is important for employees to recognize and report these phishing emails.
To increase small and medium-sized companies’ awareness of key topics relevant to cybersecurity, SensCy is pleased to announce our new Sensible Cyber Challenge! Cybersecurity questions will be posted weekdays on our LinkedIn page starting the morning of Monday, October 3rd and will run throughout October! Follow SensCy on LinkedIn—@SensCy (if you haven’t done so already).
Following the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) framework as our guide, SensCy wants to challenge you and your employees to identify critical cyber threats and trends. Using the categories from the NIST framework (Identify, Detect, Protect, Respond, and Recover), we created an interactive game to test your cyber knowledge. The difficulty varies, so both novices and experts can tackle these challenges. Do you know what a VPN does? What is the role of the Information Officer in case of a cyber incident? Have you ever experienced phishing? These are just some of the questions we’ll be asking.
If you are looking to increase your cyber knowledge and create a proactive cybersecurity culture, October is the ideal time. Join us on LinkedIn @SensCy beginning Monday, October 3rd for SensCy’s Sensible Cyber Challenge! Are you ready?
Additional Cybersecurity Resources:
