CISA celebrates 20th anniversary of Cybersecurity Awareness Month

WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced the kickoff of the 20th Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Throughout October, both CISA and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) will focus on ways to “Secure Our World” by educating the public on how to stay safe online. “Secure Our World” will also be the enduring theme for throughout the year with the campaign aiming to drive behavioral change around core cybersecurity habits and providing the necessary knowledge and tools.

“As cyber threats become more sophisticated, individuals and families, small and medium businesses, and large companies all have an important role to play to in keeping our digital world safe and secure,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “This Cybersecurity Awareness Month we are asking everyone to do their part to ‘Secure Our World’ by adopting key behaviors that promote online safety and security.” 

The CISA is challenging participants of cybersecurity awareness to help “Secure Our World” by adopting four simple steps to stay safe online: 

• Use strong passwords that are long, random, and unique to each account, and use a password manager to generate them and to save them.
• Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA) on all accounts that offer it.
• Recognize and report phishing.
• Keep software updated.

Additionally, CISA said it has developed guidance for specific audiences, including: individuals and families, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and tech manufacturers

CISA encourages everyone to explore the resources on our Cybersecurity Awareness Month website, at www.cisa.gov.