National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CAM). CAM is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and its public and private partners, including the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and exercising good cybersecurity hygiene.

Week 1: If You Connect It, Protect It.

Cybercriminals are hard at work on creating ways to gain access to connected devices and networks. Here are a few facts and figures that indicate the current state of cyber threats:

Hackers attack every 39 seconds, on average 2,244 times a day. (University of Maryland)
56% of Americans don’t know what steps to take in the event of a data breach. (Varonis)
46% of organizations got all of their malware via email. (Verizon 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report)

It is important that each individual is aware of cyber threats and how to defend against them. We each have a role to play and is why cybersecurity is shared responsibility.

Helpful Tips

You can find the following tip sheets on the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Publications site:

Identity Theft and Internet Scams Tip Sheet (pdf)
Phishing Tip Sheet (pdf)
Online Privacy Tip Sheet (pdf)
Social Media Cybersecurity Tip Sheet (pdf)

Calls to Action

Share with Care: Think before posting about yourself and others online. Consider what a post reveals, who might see it and how it might affect you or others. Consider creating an alternate persona that you use for online profiles to limit how much of your own personal information you share.
Think before You Click: If you receive an enticing offer via email or text, don’t be so quick to click on the link. Instead, go directly to the company’s website to verify it is legitimate. If you’re unsure who an email is from — even if the details appear accurate — or if the email looks “phishy,” do not respond and do not click on any links or open any attachments found in that email as they may be infected with malware.
When in Doubt, Throw It Out: Links in email, tweets, texts, posts, social media messages and online advertising are the easiest way for cyber criminals to get your sensitive information. Be wary of clicking on links or downloading anything that comes from a stranger or that you were not expecting. When available, use the “junk” or “block” option to no longer receive messages from a particular sender. Don’t trust those links.
Own Your Online Presence: Every time you sign up for a new account, download a new app, or get a new device, immediately configure the privacy and security settings to your comfort level for information sharing. Regularly check these settings (at least once a year) to make sure they are still configured to your comfort.

Week 2: Securing Devices at Home & Work

Facts and Figures

The global smart home market is forecast to reach a value of more than $141 billion by 2023. (Statista Research) 92% of employees said they believe it’s the organization’s job to secure remote working, yet over two-fifths (42%) claimed current security policies make it difficult to do their job. (Capita) 90% of IT professionals believe remote workers are not secure and 70% think remote staff poses a greater risk than onsite employees. (OpenVPN)

Helpful Tips

You can find the following tip sheets on the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Publications site:

Protecting Your Digital Home Tip Sheet (pdf)
Cybersecurity at Work Tip Sheet (pdf)
Passwords Tip Sheet (pdf)

Calls to Action

Keep a Clean Machine: Keep all software on internet connected devices — including personal computers, smartphones and tablets — current to reduce risk of infection from ransomware and malware. Configure your devices to automatically update or to notify you when an update is available.
Get Savvy About Your WiFi Hotspots: Public wireless networks and hotspots are not secure, which means that anyone could potentially see what you are doing on your laptop or smartphone while you are connected to them. Limit what you do on public WiFi, and avoid logging in to key accounts like email and bank accounts. Consider using a virtual private network (VPN) or a personal/mobile hotspot if you need a more secure connection.

Week 3: CUNY Cybersecurity Resource

Welcome to the third week of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This week we focus on CUNY’s efforts to protect its users from external cybersecurity threats and how you can find CUNY guidance on the subject. CUNY provides a range of advisories, trainings, and policies designed to foster secure work and learning online. Below is a list of key resources:

CUNY's Security Policies & Procedures
CUNY Information Security Guidelines for Working Remotely
CUNY's Zoom Security Protocol
CUNY's online security awareness course that is catered to CUNY students, faculty and staff.
CUNY issued security advisories

Week 4: The Future of Connected Device

Facts and Figures

The number of cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connections is expected to reach 3.5 billion in 2023 – increasing with an annual growth rate of 30%. (Ericsson)
Gartner forecasts that 25 billion connected things will be in use by 2021. (Gartner)
Once plugged into the internet, connected devices are attacked within 5 minutes and targeted by specific exploits in 24 hours. (NETSCOUT)

Helpful Tips

You can find the following tip sheets on the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Publications site:

Internet Of Things (pdf)
A How-To-Guide For Multi-Factor Authentication (pdf)

Calls to Action

Keep Tabs on Your Apps: Most connected appliances, toys and devices are supported by a mobile application. Your mobile device could be filled with suspicious apps running in the background, or using default permissions you never realized you approved-gathering your personal information without your knowledge, while also putting your identity and privacy at risk. Check your app permissions and delete what you don’t need or no longer use.
Lock Down Your Login: Create long and unique passphrases for all accounts and use multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever possible. MFA will fortify your online accounts by enabling the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics or a unique one-time code sent to your phone or mobile device. Use password managers to generate and remember different, complex passwords for each of your accounts.

Remember that CUNY also provides an online security awareness course (please provide the registration information requested) that is catered to CUNY students, faculty and staff. We also provide a growing security resources list on the CUNY Information Security pages. You may also want to subscribe to OUCH! — the world’s leading, free security awareness newsletter designed for technology users.

If you have any questions about any of this information, please contact our Information Security Team.

*National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) content is copyrighted and reproduced under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 or Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.