The Importance of Cybersecurity, not Just in October—but All Year Long

Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.

With October being Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it’s the opportune time for everyone to focus on online safety and to become more cyber savvy. This month, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) are encouraging all Americans to do their part and be cyber smart. This means organizations and individuals need to own their role in protecting cyberspace, which requires taking personal accountability and proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity.

The first step to increasing cybersecurity is to understand its importance. Cybersecurity, according to the CISA, is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. And the importance of applying effective strategies to keep computer systems and electronic data secure is growing as cybercrime rises. But the key to enhancing cybersecurity is to recognize the hazards that can threaten online safety: malware erasing an entire computer system; a hacker breaking into a system and altering files; someone using another person’s computer to attack others; or an intruder stealing credit card information and making unauthorized purchases.

To minimize the risk of cyberattacks, organizations should consider implementing these best practices from the CISA:

• Keep software up to date by installing software patches to prevent hackers from taking advantage of known problems or vulnerabilities.
• Run up-to-date antivirus software to automatically detect, quarantine, and remove various types of malware.
• Install a firewall to prevent cyberattacks by blocking malicious traffic before it can enter a computer system.
• Employ multi-factor authentication (MFA) to validate users’ identity.
• Change default usernames and passwords, which are readily available and can be used by malicious actors.
• Select strong passwords that will be difficult for attackers to guess and use different passwords for different programs and devices.
• Beware of suspicious emails that may be engineered to steal information and money or install malware on devices. 

While taking precautions cannot guarantee complete protection against hackers, improving cybersecurity practices can certainly help. It’s also important to become more knowledgeable about effective strategies for reducing cybersecurity risks, which is a major goal of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. In addition, Cybersecurity Awareness Month, formerly called National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, strives to ensure that individuals and organizations have the resources they need to be safer online. People can take advantage of the CISA’s cybersecurity tips, cyber essentials, and other information to become more cyber smart—not just this month, but throughout the year.

Safe Systems also offers a wide range of resources to help financial institutions enhance their cybersecurity and protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their information. Our multi-layered security suite, which is designed to protect vulnerability points inside and outside the network, includes DNS filtering, endpoint protection, next-generation firewall, security event log monitoring, and vulnerability monitoring. Community banks and credit unions can implement these security services to improve their cybersecurity posture, prevent cyberattacks and keep their operations running smoothly.