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October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM), a global effort to help everyone stay safe and protected when using technology whenever and however you connect. HACC is proud to champion this online safety and education initiative this October.
Our contest for HACC Students & Employees will open Monday, October 5th! Enter for a chance to win a $50 e-Gift card to the HACC Bookstore!
Link: Cybersecurity Awareness Month Contest
It’s easy to stay safe online
It’s easy to stay safe online
While most of the cybersecurity news articles are about massive data breaches and hackers, it can seem overwhelming and feel like you’re powerless against it. But Cybersecurity Awareness Month reminds everyone that there are all kinds of ways to keep your data protected. It can make a huge difference even by practicing the basics of cybersecurity.
Next 250: Don't Make It Easy for Them
This October, HACC joins CISA's "Securing the Next 250" campaign and the National Cybersecurity Alliance's "Don't Make It Easy for Them" campaign.
Staying safe online isn’t about making one perfect decision. It’s about building habits and repeating them consistently in the small moments that happen every day. In doing this, we can all make life difficult for cybercriminals.
Small actions make a big difference. We recommend starting with four easy steps anyone can take to boost their online safety:
Everyone has a right to a safe internet!
Show HACC's support for CSAM by using this Zoom background during the Month of October!
Click the image to be taken to the full size wallpaper.
Then download it somewhere on your computer and choose it for your background in Zoom.
Are you a fan of Wordle?
If so, then try this free online game developed by the University of Illinois where you solve puzzles and learn cybersecurity and privacy best practices. In Passwordle, you are a magical ethical hacker tasked with auditing the digital security of four of the realm's most colorful characters. Your mission is to guess their five-letter password using hints from their fictional social media feeds.
Passwordle is available for anyone to play for free at https://passwordle.web.illinois.edu/
Get Involved!
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.
DID YOU KNOW?
DID YOU KNOW?
There were 2,365 cyberattacks in 2023, with 343,338,964 victims.
2023 saw a 72% increase in data breaches since 2021, which held the previous all-time record.
Around the world, a data breach cost $4.88 million on average in 2024.
Email is the most common vector for malware, with around 35% of malware delivered via email in 2023.
Ninety-four percent of organizations have reported email security incidents.
Business email compromises accounted for over $2.9 billion in losses in 2023.
Information security jobs are projected to grow by 32% between 2022 and 2032.
source: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/it-and-tech/cybersecurity-statistics/
Recommended Reading
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-secretsReport abuse