Sirens, Skeletons & Security

What Does October Conjure Up For You?

For me – a caffeine-fiend – it’s a time when the sirens’ call lures me to Starbucks to grab an eagerly anticipated PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte), with whip, naturally. Autumn has truly taken hold, the temperatures drop, London parks look like a Bob Ross Autumnal landscape, and a PSL warms the bones as you brave the diminishing daylight hours.

Even if coffee is not your thing, pumpkins are still on the menu. A trip to the cutesy country farm perhaps, to hand-pick the perfect specimen to carve out and petrify the neighbours.  October means Halloween of course; a chance to scare and be scared without ever being in danger.

Doing Our Part

For those of us working in cybersecurity, October represents something far more important, a cauldron of opportunity if you will. Today marks the beginning of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Now in its 18^th year, CAM is a month-long period to raise awareness of the dangers that lurk in the digital darkness.

This year’s theme is ‘Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart’ and aims to stress the responsibility each of us has in helping to create a more secure world.  And it could not be of greater relevance, with 2020 having been a record-breaking year for data breaches¹ (85% of breaches involving a human element²) and 2021 set to beat it.  All us individual users continue to be targeted by bad actors, with 75% of organisations facing broad-based phishing attacks in 2020³.  It is crucial that every one of us adopt the behaviours that ensure we do not fall foul of an attack.  With ransomware attacks occurring every 11 seconds, and the value of cyber-attacks predicted to grow to $10trn by 2025⁴, the threats are not going away any time soon.

As a cybersecurity specialist, Exclusive Networks’ big dream is for a totally trusted digital world for all people and organisations. And our mission is to help drive the transition to this totally trusted digital future. For us, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the perfect opportunity to help spread the message that ALL people and ALL organisations have a significant role to play in securing our digital today and digital tomorrow.

How To ‘Do Your Part’

Across the month we’ll be sharing daily content in line with the key messages for this years’ Cybersecurity Awareness Month:

• Week 1: Be Cyber Smart – The simple actions we can all take to secure our lives.
• Week 2: Fight the Phish! – Exploring the no.1 threat vector, and how to identify and act in response.
• Week 3: Experience. Share. – A look at careers in the cybersecurity industry.
• Week 4: Cybersecurity First – Putting cybersecurity front of mind and reinforcing its importance.

And your task is simple. As you sip your morning PSL whilst scrolling through social, be sure to like and share our posts – Halloween dress optional – and spread the message far and wide that we all need to #BeCyberSmart.

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Want to spread awareness in your workplace? Download our Cyber Aware Infographic

Sources
¹ Canalys; Cybersecurity Investment 2020. Link.
² Verizon; 2021 DBIR. Link.
³ Proofpoint; 2021 State of the Phish Report. Link.
⁴ Cybersecurity Ventures; Cybercrime To Cost The World $10.5 Trillion Annually By 2025. Link.