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Cybercriminals & Hackers Have Calgary Businesses In Their Crosshairs. #BeCyberSmart Companies & Pure IT Can Stop Cyberthreats Dead In Their Tracks
From phishing attacks to ransomware attacks, cyber crimes can come in a variety of forms. Every cybercriminal takes a different approach when it comes to committing a cybercrime, making it increasingly difficult to identify which emails or links are legitimate, and which emails and links can put your organization at risk. During the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercrime increased drastically, and this indicates the dangers of digital transformation.
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a yearly reminder for organizations and individuals that cybersecurity risks are real, and data protection should be everyone’s responsibility. Cyber resilience and data protection should be the responsibility of everyone within an organization, especially organizations that handle personal and sensitive data.
The idea behind Cybersecurity Awareness Month originated in the United States and was a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance in 2004. Today, 17 years later and still growing, it is being promoted across the globe.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Not Just Another Industry Made Up Holiday For IT Professionals To Preach To Small Business Owners, Oil & Gas Professionals & Corporate IT Departments
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a yearly event that highlights the dangers cybercriminals pose to businesses, organizations, and individuals. With a greater focus on cyber training, education, and cybersecurity awareness, industry leaders and experts use the month of October to build resilience against cyber threats, tackling dangerous cybercriminals, and exploiting vulnerabilities as a united front.
Cybersecurity is not just for the month of October, it is always needed, and it never stays the same. Therefore, it is important that businesses and organizations get involved and make employees and end-users aware of the ongoing security measures that can be implemented to protect themselves and the organization. Cybersecurity is not just for employees. Cybersecurity also needs to be enforced to board members.
2021’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month’s theme is #BeCyberSmart because being aware of the threats of cybercrime should never be solely the responsibility of members of the IT team. Every person within an organization can represent a vulnerability, and everyone should be equally aware of the threats. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the world, it continues to open up new opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities and uncertainties.
56% Of Calgary Office Workers Don’t Know What To Watch Out For With Cyber Attacks, Ransomware, Phishing & Other Potential Breaches
There are various actions that employees can take that will lead to various cybersecurity vulnerabilities, including the following:
- Clicking on email links without verifying if they are legitimate and where they are going. By failing to verify email links, businesses and organizations will be at risk for viruses, ransomware, malware, etc. It is important that everyone thinks before they click because it can be one of the most powerful measures for protecting corporate information.
- Sending an email without ensuring that all confidential and sensitive has been redacted.
- Failing to test software, install updates, patches, etc. The majority of security incidents result from exploits and vulnerabilities against defects or bugs in software. As a result, it is important to test for all the latest vulnerabilities to avoid disaster.
We realize that cybersecurity is a difficult task to address. Cybersecurity awareness efforts are important, but the efforts do not have to be overwhelming or mundane. It is possible to put your own spin on cybersecurity awareness.
Create Your Own Cybersecurity Events
Rather than just making a workplace announcement that October National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and scheduling one session or training for your employees, we encourage you to create multiple events that can be used to engage your employees. It could be training sessions over lunch, a workshop, a webinar event, or games.
You could also create themes for each week that will discuss such topics as strong password implementation, remote security best practices, mobile security, etc. The objective is to keep cybersecurity at the top of your list of priorities throughout October and the remainder of the year, and to develop strong cybersecurity habits that will extend into the next year. Your cybersecurity events can be an eye-opener on a variety of topics. Sometimes it can be beneficial to invite someone from outside the organization to speak.
Perform Cybersecurity Risk Assessments
Performing cybersecurity risk assessments is a key part of an organization’s IT security management strategy. Everyone knows that there’s always a level of risk involved when it comes to an organization’s critical and sensitive data, valuable assets, and equipment. However, how do you quantify and prepare for the ever-growing cybersecurity risks?
By conducting a cybersecurity risk assessment, you will be able to highlight and determine what security risks are evident throughout your organization, and how these risks can impact your organization’s critical assets. Your cybersecurity risk assessments will also provide you with the information you need to determine how much funding and effort should be used in protecting your organization.
Get Pure IT In Your Corner: We Are Calgary’s Top Cybersecurity Focused IT Service Organization
Scheduling a consultation with IT and cybersecurity experts is a major step towards improving your organization’s cybersecurity. Your employees are part of your organization’s cybersecurity awareness strategy. Make sure that your employees understand why cybersecurity awareness is vital for your organization.
This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, let us engage all employees, board members, leaders, etc. in learning about the potential cyber risks and ways in which they can be avoided. We can implement a comprehensive strategy for your organization. We offer reliable managed security services in Calgary that can be used to enhance your cybersecurity strategy.
The importance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month should come with hand claps and the joys of winning, not the frustration of feeling that education and training are being forced. Organizations do not hold exciting parades during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but maybe there should be a few parades. However, if your organization does not hold a parade, you can still make Cybersecurity Awareness Month exciting within your organization. To celebrate this month, you can bring your teams together to hold events and conduct role-playing games that will allow everyone to learn the vocabulary of cybersecurity as well as the actions that can protect data and systems.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a great opportunity to expand your safety, knowledge, and security. Take the next step in protecting your organization. Understand your organization’s risk of a cyberattack or data breach, protect your organization, and #BeCyberSmart. If you would like to talk to our experts at Pure I.T., will be happy to assist you.
