Safer Harbor
Helping companies navigate the treacherous waters surrounding IT security and secure product development
Let’s Be Careful Out There – October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
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October, 2014 is the 11th annual (US) National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The US Department of Homeland Security has a page with information on Cybersecurity topics that will be publicized throughout the month.
Rather than giving you too many things to consider, here are 4 things you can do that will improve your security posture and make it less likely that you will be a victim of a cybersecurity incident.
At Home:
- Check to see if your home router/firewall has the latest software version installed.
At Work:
- Check for new software versions for your security devices and servers. Look for anything that fixes critical security vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed and Shellshock (just to name 2 major vulnerabilities that have surfaced in the last year).
- When was the last time you looked at the logs from your security devices? Take a look, then think about what you can do to monitor them on a regular basis. Do you have a log management tool (Splunk, LogLogic, …)? A SIEM? Have you considered an external security monitoring service? Those logs don’t do you any good if you’re not looking at them.
In Your Community:
- If you are comfortable with security and technology, stop by your local school, church or other community organization and see if they need any help? These organizations often have little left to invest in technology staff, so your offer to help out an hour or two a week (or month) could make a huge difference.
Every month can’t be a “Cybersecurity Awareness Month” but if you do the 4 things above, you, your company and your community will be in better shape than they were last month.
And don’t forget what Sergeant Esterhaus used to tell the cops every day on 1980’s show “Hill Street Blues”:
“Let’s be careful out there.”
Safer Harbor 