National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Focuses on Protecting Digital Identities, Being Accountable for Online Safety

The 16th annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) begins today, but this year with a new emphasis: you.

Every October, the National Cyber Security Alliance collaborates with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) to launch the month-long campaign to highlight new or emerging cyber threats against people and organizations, and provide tips and best practices to stay safer online.

The 2019 movement, “Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT.”, highlights the fact that each and every online user, SMB and business should practice personal accountability and proactive behavior in today’s digital landscape.

During the next month, SonicWall cybersecurity experts will examine each of the three themes and explore key aspects of living and doing business in a modern, hyper-connected world.

Own IT.

• Staying safe on social media
• Update privacy settings
• Best practices for device applications

Secure IT.

• Create strong, unique passphrases for passwords
• Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) or two-factor authentication (2FA) for various sites, services and applications
• Shop safe online
• How to spot and avoid email threats like phishing, smishing, vishing, business email compromise (BEC), etc.

Protect IT.

• Ensure your software, web browser and operating systems are patched regularly
• Guidance secure Wi-Fi and wireless
• Keeping customer/consumer data and information safe

About NCSAM

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month was launched by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in October 2004 as a broad effort to help all Americans stay safer and more secure online. Following wide success of the ‘Our Shared Responsibility’ theme in years past, CISA and NCSA have shifted strategic focus to a message that promotes personal accountability.

To learn more about NCSAM, please visit StaySafeOnline.org.