CISA Kicks Off Cybersecurity Awareness Month
CISA Will Dedicate October to Encourage Everyone to “See Yourself in Cyber”
WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) kicked off Cybersecurity Awareness Month today, following a proclamation by President Biden designating October as a time for the public and private sectors to work together to continue raising awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and equip the American people with the resources needed to be safer and more secure online. Throughout October, CISA, in partnership with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA), will focus on what it means to “See Yourself in Cyber” by highlighting the actions that all Americans can take to raise the baseline for cybersecurity across the country.
“To build a more resilient nation, everyone—from K through Gray—has a role to play, which is why our theme for this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month is 'See Yourself in Cyber,'" said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “This October, we are taking this message directly to the American people because whether you’re a network defender or anyone with an internet connection, we all have a role to play in strengthening the cybersecurity of our nation. Throughout the month, CISA will be engaged with communities across the country to promote cyber hygiene—simple but effective ways to keep Americans safe online through basic steps like enabling multi-factor authentication; using strong passwords and a password keeper; recognizing and reporting phishing; and promptly updating software. Together, we will make better cybersecurity a reality.”
Throughout October, CISA will encourage Americans to “See Yourself in Cyber,” whether you are already working in cybersecurity, or you’re a vendor or supplier, an infrastructure owner or operator, a student, a job seeker, or an individual who uses the internet for work, school, or entertainment.
- For individuals and families, we encourage you to See Yourself taking action to stay safe online. That means enabling basic cyber hygiene practices: update your software, think before you click, have good strong passwords or a password keeper, and enable multi-factor authentication (meaning you need “More Than A Password!”) on all your sensitive accounts.
- For those considering joining the cyber community, we encourage you to See Yourself as part of the cyber workforce. We’ll be talking with leaders from across the country about how we can build a cybersecurity workforce that reflects the diversity of our nation, and one equipped to deal with the increasingly complex and challenging cyber threat landscape.
- For our partners in industry, we’re excited to work together to build a more secure and resilient technology ecosystem through real-time operational collaboration, enhanced visibility and data sharing, and products engineered secure-by-design so we can collectively reduce risk to our nation and protect the critical infrastructure that Americans rely on every day.
We encourage everyone to visit CISA’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month website and NCA’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month website, to get more information on how to get involved, as well as tools and resources you can use to help promote cybersecurity through October. Be sure to follow us on social media and join the #SeeYourselfInCyber conversation too.
About CISA:
As the nation’s cyber defense agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the digital and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every hour of every day. Visit CISA.gov for more information.