National Cybersecurity
Awareness Month
The overarching theme for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020 is “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.” The theme empowers individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, with a particular emphasis on the key message for 2020: “If you connect it, protect it.” If everyone does their part – implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable audiences or training employees – our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for everyone.
Weekly Content
Throughout October, NCSA will focus on the following areas in our promotions and outreach. Partners are welcome to follow along with NCSA but also encouraged to create their own areas of focus relevant to their organization:
Week of October 5 (Week 1): If You Connect It, Protect It
If you connect it, protect it. The line between our online and offline lives is indistinguishable. This network of connections creates both opportunities and challenges for individuals and organizations across the globe. The first week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month will highlight the ways in which internet-connected devices have impacted our lives and will empower all users to own their role in security by taking steps to reduce their risks.
Week of October 12 (Week 2): Securing Devices at Home and Work
2020 saw a major disruption in the way many work, learn, and socialize online. Our homes are more connected than ever. Our businesses are more connected than ever. With more people now working from home, these two internet-connected environments are colliding on a scale we’ve never seen before, introducing a whole new set of potential vulnerabilities that users must be conscious of. Week 2 of Cybersecurity Awareness Month will focus on steps users and organizations can take to protect internet connected devices for both personal and professional use.
Week of October 19 (Week 3): Securing Internet-Connected Devices in Healthcare
The healthcare industry is increasingly relying upon internet-connected devices and solutions to improve patient care, organizational efficiency, speed of crisis response, and much more. The emergence of telemedicine, digital health records, internet-connected medical devices, patient wellness apps, and an increasing amount of third parties entering the health supply chain has created many benefits, but has also exposed the industry to vulnerabilities that cyber criminals regularly attempt to exploit. The third week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month will delve into the industry (hospitals, care facilities) and consumer (telemedicine patients) implications of internet-connected device use and what steps both can take own their part and #BeCyberSmart.
Week of October 26 (Week 4): The Future of Connected Devices
The final week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month will look at the future of connected devices. This week will look at how technological innovations, such as 5G, might impact consumers’ and business’ online experiences (e.g. faster speeds and data transmission, larger attack surface for hackers), as well as how people/infrastructure can adapt to the continuous evolution of the connected devices moving forward. No matter what the future holds, however, every user needs to be empowered to do their part.
Get Involved!
Visit Stop.Think.Connect for online safety tips.
The Stop.Think.Connect. Campaign is a national public awareness effort that increases the understanding of cyber threats and empowers the American public to be safer and more secure online. It encourages Americans to view Internet safety as a shared responsibility–at home, in the workplace, and in our communities. The Campaign provides access to these types of resources to give Americans the tools they need to make more informed decisions when using the Internet.
Show HACC's support for NCSAM by using this Zoom background during the Month of October!
Simply right-click on the image and save it somewhere on your computer, then choose it for your background in Zoom.
Visit Stop.Think.Connect for online safety tips.
The Stop.Think.Connect. Campaign is a national public awareness effort that increases the understanding of cyber threats and empowers the American public to be safer and more secure online. It encourages Americans to view Internet safety as a shared responsibility–at home, in the workplace, and in our communities. The Campaign provides access to these types of resources to give Americans the tools they need to make more informed decisions when using the Internet.
Recommended Reading
With a focus on cybersecurity this October, here is a list of recommended reading on the topic in no particular order:
Cliff Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage (Gallery Books, 1989)
Details the story of how the author managed to discover a computer espionage ring infiltrated in the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. The operation eventually led to the involvement of the CIA, and exposed the role of the KGB in the entire operation (399 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18154.The_Cuckoo_s_EggFred Kaplan, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War (Simon & Schuster, 2017).
This book tells the history of cyberwar in a gripping, narrative-driven style (352 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30753827-dark-territory
P. W. Singer and Allan Friedman, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2014).
Written in a question-and-answer style and employing stories and anecdotes, this introduction is highly readable, but those who come with some knowledge of the internet already may find it simplistic (306 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16182409-cybersecurity-and-cyberwar
Kim Zetter, Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon (Broadway Books, 2015).
Written by a journalist, this book both tells the story of Stuxnet and examines the overall state of cyberwarfare today (448 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18465875-countdown-to-zero-day
Kevin D. Mitnick & William L. Simon, The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security (Wiley, 2003)
The world's most infamous hacker offers an insider's view of the low-tech threats to high-tech security. Focusing on the human factors involved with information security, Mitnick explains why all the firewalls and encryption protocols in the world will never be enough to stop a savvy grifter intent on rifling a corporate database or an irate employee determined to crash a system (352 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18160.The_Art_of_DeceptionKevin Mitnick, Robert Vamosi (Co-Author), The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data (Little, Brown and Company, 2017)
Kevin Mitnick, the world's most famous hacker, teaches you easy cloaking and counter-measures for citizens and consumers in the age of Big Brother and Big Data. Mitnick provides both online and real life tactics and inexpensive methods to protect you and your family, in easy step-by-step instructions. He even talks about more advanced "elite" techniques, which, if used properly, can maximize your privacy. Invisibility isn't just for superheroes--privacy is a power you deserve and need in this modern age.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30363785-the-art-of-invisibility
Parmy Olson, We Are Anonymous (Little, Brown and Company, 2013).
WE ARE ANONYMOUS is the first full account of how a loosely assembled group of hackers scattered across the globe formed a new kind of insurgency, seized headlines, and tortured the feds-and the ultimate betrayal that would eventually bring them down (512 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13528420-we-are-anonymous
Andy Greenberg, This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information (Dutton Adult, 2012)
The first full account of the cypherpunks who aim to free the world’s institutional secrets, by Forbes journalist Andy Greenberg who has traced their shadowy history from the cryptography revolution of the 1970s to Wikileaks founding hacker Julian Assange, Anonymous, and beyond (384 pages).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13586738-this-machine-kills-secrets