October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month

For the fifth year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) is spearheading National Cyber Security Awareness Month, a comprehensive outreach campaign to empower all Americans and businesses to take steps to secure their part of cyberspace. During the month of October, events will take place across the country to raise awareness of the growing need to protect the Nation’s critical infrastructures and key resources from cyber threats and vulnerabilities.The NCSD is partnering with the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, along with other government agencies and the private sector. The month's activities include press and media events, educational workshops, state cyber exercises, and lectures hosted by public and private partners, proclamations by state governors, and other stakeholder outreach activities. Here are 10 actions you can take to improve cyber security in your organization:

1. Use strong passwords at work and at home. Update your password frequently and encourage others to do the same.
2. Make sure that your anti-virus software and firewalls are up-to-date. New threats are discovered everyday and keeping your software and firewalls updated is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from an attack. Set your computer to automatically update for you.
3. Hold an event at your facility designed to increase cyber security education and awareness. Download EDUCAUSE’s cyber resource kit online at http://www.educause.edu/7479.
4. Reach out to people that you know – your children, co-workers, friends – about good online safety and security habits, including protecting their personal information and their reputation. For more information and tips go to http://www.staysafeonline.org/ and http://www.us-cert.gov/.
5. Print cyber security posters from http://www.onguardonline.gov%20/ and post them in workrooms, hallways, bathrooms and other employee gathering places. Print and post cyber security tips near your computer at home and at work. Review them with your colleagues, employees and family members.
6. Create a separate section for cyber security tips on your organization’s web site. Download online buttons and banners about phishing, identity theft, file-sharing, and other cyber security topics at http://www.msisac.org/ or http://www.onguardonline.gov/ and place on your organization’s home page.
7. Use regular communications – newsletters, email alerts, websites, etc. – as an opportunity to promote your commitment to cyber security. Some newsletter topics to consider include: updating software processes; protecting personal identifiable information; and securing your wireless network.
8. Subscribe to the National Cyber Alert System from the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team at http://www.blogger.com/www.us-cert.gov. Through the Alert System, you can receive timely information about current cyber security problems to protect home and office computers. This information includes weekly bulletins with summaries of new vulnerabilities, patch information when available, and tips on common security topics, such as privacy, email spam, and wireless protection.
9. Back up important files. If you have important files stored on your computer, back them up to removal media, to a server, and best yet to an online backup service. Secure your backup media to prevent unauthorized access and store the media in a location where it will not be damaged from a hazard that affects your computer (what if your place of business was destroyed by fire?)
10. Ask IT security specialists at your workplace to report any potential cyber incident, threat, or attack to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (USCERT) at 1-888-282-0870 or US-CERT.gov.

These links along with dozens of others that related to risk assessment, hazard prevention, risk mitigation, emergency response, and business contininuity have been added to the growing "Resources" page of the Preparedness, LLC website.