National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an opportunity for the Federal Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) Council to share, with all federal employees and contractors, tips and information to combat malicious cyber actors seeking to compromise federal information systems and data.
Last year, when I said that the CISO Council was making great strides in our partnerships and working together, I never imagined how important that would be for the year ahead of us. With the national pandemic increasing telework, and requiring increasing citizen services, agencies have responded swiftly to ensure the resiliency and security of their IT systems. Federal employees have also shown incredible adaptability to a new working environment, harnessing collaboration tools in record numbers, discovering and inventing new ways of harmonizing work-life and all the while securing our federal systems and services while potentially navigating the sharing of a work environment with others in their home!
In perspective, this year the Federal CISO Council is promoting four themes aligned with the federal workforce during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, focused on our evolving working environment and remaining cybersafe.
This year’s themes are:
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Personal Device Security;
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Securing the Home Network;
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Social Engineering; and
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Security in the age of Internet of Things (IoT).
I hope you can join us throughout the month. Each week CIO.gov will share information related to the themes including videos, one pagers and events relevant to all federal employees.
This year the message for the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month campaign through The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the public is “If You Connect It, Protect It” . The theme encourages individuals and organizations to recognize the importance of their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, stressing personal accountability and the importance of taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity. We will be connecting to many of these DHS resources as well throughout the month.
The Federal CISO Council is excited to share National Cybersecurity Awareness Month with you and we hope you find this campaign useful and engaging. Remember to be cyber-smart when working from home, while on travel and even when we’re back in the office.
