October is CyberSecurity Awareness Month, a time to focus on why cybersecurity is important and what we can do to protect our personal and business information.
If You Collect It, Protect It: Information collected by businesses needs to be protected.
If you Connect It, Protect It: If you connect devices to the internet at home, at work or on-the-go then be sure to protect it, much as you would lock your home everyday when you leave for work.
The security/anti-virus/firewall technology we have available has become really good at protecting us from malware and computer viruses. Be sure to have some sort of protection on every device you use. However, that protection is only the beginning. The weakest link now is us, the human. If I can get you to click an attachment in an email or a spammy link on social media that I send you, then I can infect your computer/mobile/IoT device. That’s all I need to get in the door. Even with all the best technology installed, it really does come down to each of us being diligent with passwords/passphrases and taking care to not open email attachments and click on social media spam, and knowing the difference. It’s important for all of us to do our part to protect ourselves and everyone else connected by the internet.
(You might think you don’t have anything of value on your devices, and maybe you don’t. However, for but one example, simply accessing your device and planting a so-called “bot” enables miscreants to use your device as part of a bot-net to do various illicit and potentially destructive things. If I send you an email and can get you to click on a specially crafted link or attachment then I can load a bot onto your device. In that sense, every single device connected to the internet has value.)
I’ve included a few things here to help focus. For more detailed information please see the links under “for more information” below.
Four Weeks of CyberSecurity Month
- CyberSecure Your Smart Home: Tip Sheet (PDF) – Video
- CyberSecure Your Smart Business: Tip Sheet (PDF) – Video
- Healthcare:
- Connected Healthcare Infographic
- Securing Personal Health Data: Video
- The Future of the Internet of Things (IoT): Video
Common CyberSecurity Misconceptions for Small and Medium-sized Organizations
For More Information:
- National CyberSecurity Awareness Month
- National Cyber Security Alliance: “Stay Safe Online“
- National Cyber Security Alliance: “CyberSecure My Business”
