It is no secret that cybersecurity attacks have increased. A great time to help educate members is during the 20th Anniversary of Cybersecurity Awareness Month!
Founded in 2004, Cybersecurity Awareness Month, held each October, is the world’s foremost initiative aimed at promoting cybersecurity awareness and best practices. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort among businesses, government agencies, colleges and universities, associations, nonprofit organizations, tribal communities and individuals committed to educating others on online safety.
Themes
The new theme of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is Secure Our World, with the main messaging revolving around four key cybersecurity best practices:
- Understanding the benefits of using a password manager and dispelling existing myths around password manager security and ease of use.
- Turning on multifactor authentication on personal devices and business networks.
- Recognizing and reporting phishing – still one of the primary threat actions used by cybercriminals today.
- Installing updates on a regular basis and turning on automated updates.
How to Use the Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign
- Help employees brush up on their cybersecurity knowledge. Get creative — print cybersecurity tips and hang them on bulletin boards or even in restrooms where you know there is a captive audience, create cybersecurity quizzes and offer prizes for employees.
- Encourage employees to talk to members about cybersecurity.
- Feature tips on social media. Use hashtags #CyberSmartTN, #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth and #SecureOurWorld.
- Include cybersecurity tips in member communications, such as in statement messages, newsletters and email campaigns.
- Create a cybersecurity tie-in when celebrating International Credit Union Day with members.
Resources
The nation’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) have partnered to create resources and messaging for organizations to use when they talk with their employees, customers and memberships about staying safe online. To learn more about the campaign, visit cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month.
