The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in partnership with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA), kicked off the 18^th annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month this week.

Trustwave will support the 2021 Cybersecurity Awareness Month with a series of blog posts and webinars with content appearing beginning on Oct. 6, so please stay tuned.

CISA and the NCSA have designed this program to raise awareness on the importance of cybersecurity and to ensure that Americans have the resources needed to be safe and secure online.

“We’ve seen an unprecedented shift to more digital usage in the last year and there’s no going back,” said Lisa Plaggemier, interim executive director with the NCSA. “The onset of the ongoing pandemic and the need to stay connected has made our digital life prone to cyber threats now more than ever. As such, it’s critical that we adopt cyber safe practices that can keep our devices and access to our personal data safe and reduce the risk of exposure.”

For 2021, CISA and NCSA have broken Cybersecurity Awareness Month, previously known as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, down with each week focusing on a particular issue:

• Week of Oct. 4 (Week 1): Be Cyber Smart;
• Week of Oct. 11 (Week 2): Phight the Phish;
• Week of Oct. 18 (Week 3): Explore. Experience;
• Week of Oct. 25 (Week 4): Cybersecurity First.

Week 3 will do double duty, also functioning as Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week, CISA said. During the week, participants are encouraged to do their part to help fill the cybersecurity jobs gap by hosting or participating in a jobs event, to include reaching out to local students to expose as many people as possible to what a cybersecurity career can offer.

Although CISA and the NCSA offer free technical and non-technical resources for organizations and individuals to help them secure their environment, the organizations place a special emphasis on the tools available. These include CISA’s:

• Telework Guidance and Best Practices- resources to assist organizations and teleworkers in being secure when working remotely.
• Cybersecurity Hub – to evaluate operational resilience, cybersecurity practices, organizational management of external dependencies, and other key elements of a robust cybersecurity framework.
• Cyber Essentials - a guide for small business leaders and local government agencies to develop an actionable understanding of how to implement organizational cybersecurity best practices.
• Mitigating Cyber Risks to The Nation’s Critical Infrastructure

A Presidential Proclamation

Emphasizing the importance that President Joe Biden has placed on improving the nation’s cybersecurity posture, The White House issued a proclamation for Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

“Since its inception, Cybersecurity Awareness Month has elevated the central role that cybersecurity plays in our national security and economy,” Biden said. “This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we recommit to doing our part to secure and protect our internet-connected devices, technology, and networks from cyber threats at work, home, school, and anywhere else we connect online.”

The Biden Administration has taken several steps to bolster cybersecurity, including issuing the Cybersecurity Executive Order in May and filling several important cybersecurity posts. This includes naming Jen Easterly as CISA director and Anne Nueberger as the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology.