What is CSAM - Cyber Security Awareness Month?
Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM) was established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, and is capturing the attention of the world with its clever hashtags,#CyberSecMonth and#ThinkB4UClick, and it’s important message. We are all at risk of cyber-attack. But what we need to know goes far beyond which software firewall or hybrid cloud to deploy. Let’s explore further.
In 2004, when October was designated as National Cyber Security Awareness month, the IT experts of the world were just starting to deal with the concept of attack. It has only been recently when average device users have become aware of how much damage a single attack can do. During the month of October, the world focuses on cyber security education, while the National Cyber Security Alliance, in conjunction with other technology leaders, releases educational material like “MediaPro Data Privacy Week 2021 Toolkit” and “Securing Your Data in the Cloud.”
Sangfor Technologies has made a business out of creating the innovative products needed to protect our users from cyber threat, and is therefore highly invested in Cyber Security Month. Let’s explore a few of the strongest campaigns associated with this important movement, and how they work to keep our business and our users safe and secure online.
National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA)
Head to NCSA’s StaySafeOnline pages to learn about how to keep yourself, your devices, and your information more secure online! The NCSA has many options for education, including an overview of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the new theme for 2021, ‘Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.’
StopThinkConnect
STOP. THINK. CONNECT.™ is the global online safety awareness campaign to help all digital citizens stay safer and more secure online. The message was created by a coalition of private companies, non-profits and government organizations, with leadership of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the APWG.
Lock Down Your Login
This site is designed to educate you on securing key accounts and devices, as well as securing your home network, any password usage, and even social media and parental control advice. Here you have resources to teach you using such topics and videos as “How to Pass the Cyber Attacks Testing K12 Schools” and “Stalkerware: Technology-Facilitated Domestic Violence.”
Now that you’ve educated yourself on the risks and pitfalls of cyber security, it’s time to learn about the resources available to you to help you on your journey.
1. Don’t become a ransomware victim.
How do you prevent ransomware? The easiest way to avoid being a victim of ransomware is to take care when clicking on emails or links, or visiting untrusted sites on the internet. Ransomware can often enter your network, and lie dormant for years, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Take the month of October to practice your cyber security skills, and encourage those around you to open their eyes to the risk as well.
2. Don’t fall for phishing scams.
Malware prevention is all about avoiding phishing scams, one of the most popular attack methods because of its easy delivery. Attackers can send out thousands of emails with very little effort, and only need on distracted click or download for a successful attack. Never open links from users you don’t know, and never give out your personal or financial information online.
3. Don’t be tricked into giving out personal information.
Speaking of personal information, things like stolen passwords can be used to affect endpoint security, making endpoint detection and response (EDR) vital to enterprise. EDR security is critical for protecting endpoints like PCs and mobile devices from attack. If your password or login info is used to access and steal sensitive information, you will certainly be asked why you weren’t more careful with your info – and in the worst case scenario, could potentially lose your job, depending on the severity of the oversight.
4. Be cautious while online shopping.
EDR security also comes into play when online shopping, something growing in popularity due to travel restrictions and supply chain breakdown. It’s critical that you deploy the right types of endpoint detection and response, to secure your network, customers and even casual users of your network. Some malicious files sit between your browser and a site, waiting to route your innocent request to a fake shopping page, where you might input your financial information.
5. Take charge and update your firewall and endpoint security
Updating your network firewall could be one of the most important things you do this Cyber Security Awareness Month. Consider deploying a next generation firewall, or NGFW, for more robust protection and more accurate security. Next generation firewalls are more proactive than their predecessors, enabling security at every juncture and inn ever situation. NGFW can even be equipped with threat intelligence solutions, for increased security from endpoints to core.
6. Back up your files and folders. Keep disaster recovery plans ready.
Even the best security solutions are not 100% effective, meaning you must plan for the worst, and hope for the best. Many enterprises are using hyperconverged solutions (HCI) to enable better disaster recovery. This plan will be set into motion the moment your enterprise realizes they are the victim of a cyber-attack, and could save your entire business. DR solutions are designed to automatically perform certain key security functions in the event of an attack, while preparing you to recover your data and get back online.
7. Leverage Digital Transformation for your organization. Deploy Hybrid Cloud and Hyperconverged Infrastructure.
Often, the first stop on the digital transformation journey, is cloud, forcing many enterprises to seek out the best, fastest and most security cloud services. As the perfect middle-ground between public and private, hybrid cloud is the solution of choice for 2021. Enterprises are also using HCI to enable more robust and powerful hybrid cloud for multiple locations, offices or even users spread across the globe.
8. Deploy advanced network security devices such network detection and response.
Network detection and response, or NDR, is an important function of network security, and vital for any enterprise. NDR kicks in when you are attacked, to respond to the virus or malicious software automatically. This type of fast and powerful response is often the saving grace for enterprise, as it seeks out the attack and shuts it down quickly, before it can do much damage.
9. Check an option of Managed Cloud Services to optimize your resource planning.
Managed cloud services and storage are provided by a professional managed cloud provider, and offer the easiest cyber security of all. Managed cloud providers will both manage your basic cloud needs, and protect your network in the event of an attack. Enterprise loves this service, as recovery is immediate, and even smaller businesses can get easy access to IT and network security experts.
10. Use advanced threat hunting tools that keeps you safe under any situation.
All the security in the world is great, but without proactive threat hunting and detection, you will be ann easy victim. Enterprises are deploying threat detection solutions, to rove their networks, looking for malicious files, or potential malware. Once it finds this type of file (or thinks it has), it will test it to determine what it actually is, and will use this analysis to shut down any threat.
The American Whitehouse has issued a notice designed to draw attention to our increasing need for cyber security awareness, posting on its website, “Since its inception, Cybersecurity Awareness Month has elevated the central role that cybersecurity plays in our national security and economy. This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we recommit to doing our part to secure and protect our internet-connected devices, technology, and networks from cyber threats at work, home, school, and anywhere else we connect online. I encourage all Americans to responsibly protect their sensitive data and improve their cybersecurity awareness by embracing this year’s theme: “Do Your Part. Be Cyber Smart.”
Even higher educational institutions are focusing on cyber security, with Carnegie Mellon University even promoting a whole week of cyber security events including sessions entitled “Catch the Golden Phish,” “ISO Cyber Sessions,” and “Cybersecurity 101 Training.” The world has felt the effects of cyber-attack in the last year, in new and worrying ways. Cyber-attacks have successfully shut down supply chains and pipelines, and collected millions in ransom payments. But ransomware attack is far from the only threat – just the easiest to write about.
For more information on the cyber security solutions your business needs, contact Sangfor Technologies today, and see how we can make your IT simpler, more secure and valuable.
