Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart
Why yes, it is October ! The month for Cybersecurity Awareness ! Welcome back !
I think it’s safe to say that awareness is remarkably more so required in this strange year of 2020 than ever before. Whether you’re an employee or a student, parent or grandparent, teenager or toddler; you should be very aware of the all the cybersecurity risks that are out there in order for you to avoid falling prey to them. Due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns it’s caused, technology and the Internet have begun occupying such a big part of our lives that it’s become center-stage. Remember the following key-points:
1. Employees working from home have to be vigilant enough such that they do not cause undue risks to their organizations while accessing their resources and data.
2. Students in all grades attending online classes now have access to a whole host of inappropriate and false information.
3. Parents and grandparents who are not used to technology and its intricacies could now risk becoming addicted to it, especially the Internet.
4. Teenagers’ curiosities now have an increased influence over their lives due to increased free time surfing the Web, which could lead to them seeking out new experiences that are possibly illegal, things they might want to try for the first time.
5. Finally, the little ones; the most vulnerable individuals. There’s a good chance that they’ll be unmonitored and unsupervised when using their parents’ Internet-facing tools. Things like their smartphones, their tablets, their laptops left open. They’ll be on the receiving end of all kinds of inappropriate things like certain ads, for example.
Let’s admit it, there’s really no way to be 100% sure of protective measures and safeguards but are we consciously doing enough? Are our efforts to understand and be aware of the dangers sufficient enough?
Government authorities play a major role in this awareness. However, their focus at this time is more geared towards government employees, but even with the government on our side, it still is not enough.
Organizations often try their best to educate their employees about different types of security risks. That effort could be getting better results if enough resources, time and budget were allocated for it.
Parents should occasionally check in on their child and try from time to time to provide advice and guidance. However, this requires those parents to first educate themselves with the necessary knowledge about Internet risks.
NGOs exist that sometimes organize activities and events towards raising awareness within the community, but these are few in number.
A single month, 30 days, is not enough for effective awareness campaigns. Guidelines are published by many entities, especially the NCSAM (National Cybersecurity Awareness Month), but are people – individuals and organizations – reading and following those guidelines? It’s definitely not enough and additional year-round efforts are needed for better outreach and to foster a high degree of awareness and social responsibility.
We at Octopus Security have a proactive approach in founding our product that operates on a continuous non-stop approach to oversee security risks within IT networks. We will be also looking for participation from the individual side about cybersecurity awareness.
Recent Comments