What are you planning for Cyber Security Awareness Month 2021?

Cyber Security Awareness Month is coming up in October. This collaborative effort between government and industry aims to provide all people with the resources they need to stay safe and secure online.

What is Cyber Security Awareness Month?

Cyber Security Awareness Month was launched by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in October 2004 in a broad effort to help all citizens stay safer and more secure online. The initiative calls for a collaborative effort from government, public and private partners, schools, law enforcement agencies, and individual citizens to participate in a worldwide effort to raise public awareness about cyber threats.

When Cyber Security Awareness Month began, the advice was to update antivirus programs twice a year. This was in line with similar advice to change smoke alarm batteries bi-annually during daylight savings time switches. Since the National Cyber Security Alliance teamed up with the DHS, the campaign has exponentially grown in participation. It started as a grassroots effort, but now includes many kinds of companies. These organisations are proactively engaging their customers, employees, and the public in cyber security awareness campaigns.

Why is Cyber Security Awareness Month important?

National Cyber Security Awareness Month is more important than ever, with ransomware attacks taking place every 11 seconds and the stark rise in phishing attacks. Perhaps more worrying, is that the most common cause of all cyber attacks is as a result of human error. Such statistics highlight the ongoing and relentless threats that organisations face and the need to ensure cyber security awareness at all levels.

Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic is testing the resiliency of online security systems world wide. At the same time it is pushing more and more citizens to conduct their daily lives and work online. Our lives have truly shifted into the digital dimension, so making the online user aware of security issues has become more important than ever before.

Cyber Security Awareness Month 2021 is an effort to empower individuals and organisations to be more aware of their responsibility toward cyber security. The main objectives of the 2021 campaign are to:

  • ensure that end users and organisations are well informed regarding potential cyber security risks and,
  • that they stay safe during online activities.

The general intention of the 2021 campaign is to help users develop a basic understanding of the different types of online security and privacy issues being faced today.

Where do YOU fit in?

Elasticito believes that cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. We’d like YOU to believe in that ideal too.

No single person or organisation can keep the world safe from cyber crime. We all need to do our part, such as:

  • implementing stronger security practices
  • raising awareness in communities
  • educating vulnerable audiences and,
  • training employees.

“Our online and offline lives are now inseparable. In this age of technology, the internet impacts many aspects of our lives, for instance our homes, society, economy, and national security”, says Ronan Lavelle, CEO of Elasticito. If you are looking to assess the effectiveness of your existing cyber awareness programme, start from the beginning or run a specific gamified campaign for Cyber Awareness Month, Elasticito is here and ready to help.

Elasticito has teamed up with SANS Security Awareness from the world renowned SANS Institute to implement world class security awareness campaigns, including interesting Cyber Security Awareness Month events. SANS Security Awareness content is available in over 35 languages and can be delivered through your company’s existing Learning Management platform, or you can use the SAP Litmos environment that we provide.

Contact Elasticito for a tailor-made solution to raise awareness during 2021’s Cyber Security Awareness Month. For more information click here.