Man in the Mirror

Before October is over, I thought I should take the time to talk a little bit about National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I.E., this one.

If you’ve been following my blog or roughly most of my cybersecurity-based stories for this publication, then you don’t need me to tell you how important cybersecurity is. Mass data breaches are common, and damages from cyber crime and spending to counter it is a steeply rising slope. It’s no surprise then that the theme of this awareness month is to “See Yourself in Cyber”.

What exactly does that mean for you, you might ask? Good question! A lot of things potentially. I attended a wonderful virtual panel hosted by Inkhouse and filled with incredibly talented women from across the industry who asked how we can better facilitate bringing diversity to an industry that is largely male and could do with a tan. They asked their target demographic to literally see themselves in cyber, to be part of the process enriching themselves and others.

Another common take on the theme has been to ask yourself what your security posture is. There’s an alarming statistic of businesses (mostly SMB’s) that have zero staff dedicated to cybersecurity. I wont even get started on how problematic that is but anyone in this day and age running a business with no IT security whatsoever isn’t playing with fire, they are running with scissors while on fire and taking a swan dive into a pool of gasoline. Our financial institutions have mechanisms in place to protect victims of cyber crime, to an extent, but it will ultimately cost those businesses valuable time and money.

Lastly, I suppose I look at myself to see myself in cyber as an individual. On grading, I give myself a B. I have room to improve, without question, however I’ve made the effort to maintain a certain level of security procedure. I’ve also been fortunate to work for organizations with IT and cybersecurity departments that provide valuable education to employees while maintaining strict security practices. I am fairly confident I could recognize most phishing attempts, spoofed emails, and signs of malicious software at this point, and if I had any doubts, well, I KNOW a guy.

So, I invite you to do the same, before October is over, take a look at the man (or woman) in the mirror, see yourself in cyber, and ask if you’re prepared for any cybersecurity challenges you might face in the coming year.

“If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change.”