October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month – “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.”

For 17 years now, the (CISA) Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, has held national campaigns focusing on October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM). As one can imagine, cybersecurity has never been more important especially in navigating life and work during a health and economic pandemic. Anything that disrupts our professional and personal lives – the details of which are encoded in our phones and computers – is not merely an annoyance but can be a disaster if we do not properly protect our networks, our devices and connectivity to such.

So what can you as a county do to protect and enhance your cybersecurity defenses? This year’s NCSAM theme is focused on “If You Connect It, Protect It.” Throughout October, CISA will provide resources and materials that counties can use focused on the following areas:

• Week of October 5 (Week 1): If You Connect It, Protect It
• Week of October 12 (Week 2): Securing Devices at Home and Work
• Week of October 19 (Week 3): Securing Internet-Connected Devices in Healthcare
• Week of October 26 (Week 4): The Future of Connected Devices

There are a wealth of free resources available for local government. They include an excellent education PowerPoint that can be branded with county logos. Tipsheets on Identity Theft, Online Privacy, Phishing, Passwords, Social Media, and more. And Sample Social Media Posts and graphics for each week.

Watch for more information as each week NACo will also publish a digital County News article that will take a deeper dive into each of the above areas more extensively.

More information can be found at National Cyber Security Awareness Month and CISA.

And don’t forget to register for the NACo Virtual Fall CIO Forum Series for October, which is on Cybersecurity. There will be breakouts covering nationally available resources, as well as topics around phishing, elections security and county best practices best practices. Attendance is encouraged by both IT leadership, as well as elected officials.