It’s Everyone’s Job To Ensure Online Safety At Work

Week three of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) is here, and we will shine a spotlight on helping everyone at work — from the break room to the boardroom — understand the importance of online safety. When you are on the job – whether it’s at a corporate office, local restaurant, healthcare provider, academic institution or government agency ‒ your organization’s online safety and security are a responsibility we all share. And, as the lines between our work and daily lives become increasingly blurred, it is more important than ever to be certain that smart cybersecurity carries over between the two.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are more than 30 million small businesses nationwide. These organizations have a big impact on America’s economy through job creation and employment. During NCSAM’s third week, cybersecurity workforce education, training, and awareness along with risk management, resistance and resilience will be addressed. Employees from industries and organizations large and small can learn about strong cybersecurity practices by joining an NCSA CyberSecure My Business™ webinar or in-person workshop. These events share valuable information and resources detailing how small and medium-sized businesses can protect themselves, their employees and their customers against the most prevalent threats.

As a technology leader, Intel has implemented some of the industry’s best practices for making sure its employees and contingent workers know how to play an active role in helping keep the workplace and company data secure. Recognizing that employees are the first line of defense in corporate security, Intel cultivates a culture where security is top of mind and sets expectations for good security hygiene by helping employees know what actions to take in order to help keep Intel information secure. Some examples include:

1. Delivering more than 150 role-based information security training courses to the enterprise and providing annual Information Security Awareness training for all 100,000+ employees plus contingent workers across 45+ countries.
2. Executing regular companywide information security awareness campaigns to engage employees and keep them connected to Intel information security and privacy policies, as well as the evolving security landscape.
3. Enforcing compliance and managing change via targeted internal communications.

Keep in mind that all businesses need to take measures to help prevent attacks and have a set plan ready to go if one does occur. Across the board, NCSA recommends a top-down approach to creating a culture of cybersecurity in the workplace. The following steps ‒ developed by NIST ‒ will help tremendously as you formulate a plan to keep your business cybersecurity:

• Identify: Conduct an inventory of your most valuable assets – the “crown jewels” of greatest importance to your business and of most value to criminals – such as employee, customer and payment data.
• Protect: Assess what protective measures you need in place – such as keeping your software up to date or by following these tips – to defend the organization as much as possible against a cyber incident.
• Detect: Have systems set up that would alert you if an incident occurs, including the ability for employees to report problems.
• Respond: Make and practice an incidence response plan to contain an attack and maintain business operations in the short term.
• Recover: Know what to do to return to normal business operations after an incident or breach, including assessing any legal obligations.

In addition, check out this handy Cybersecurity Awareness Toolkit which is packed with techniques and tips addressing simple, actionable ways organizations of varying industries can better protect themselves and their companies from being compromised.

You can actively participate in NCSAM by getting involved in the following:

• Get involved in social media. Use the #CyberAware hashtag in your posts, follow us on Facebook and Twitter and download our sample social media content to share before and during the month.
• Sign up to be an NCSAM Champion. Register yourself and/or your organization as a Champion to take action in support of NCSAM and receive materials you can use to spread the word. It’s easy and free to sign up.
• Join our #ChatSTC Twitter chats. Each week, @STOPTHNKCONNECT will host a discussion related to the weekly NCSAM theme. This Thursday, Oct. 18, at 3 p.m. EDT/noon PDT, we’ll discuss how it’s Everyone’s Job to Ensure Online Safety at Work. Use #ChatSTC to join!

For more information on NCSAM and how you can get involved, visit our NCSAM web portal and check out DHS’ STOP. THINK. CONNECT.™ page. We look forward to partnering with you to make this NCSAM the best yet!