This October is Cybersecurity Awareness month, and the federal government is taking multiple actions to better inform, prepare and protect Americans in the face of rising cyber threats.
In a Sep. 30 proclamation, President Biden encouraged not only government and industry organizations, but also American citizens to employ measures like enabling multi-factor authentication, updating software regularly and recognizing and reporting phishing attacks to improve the nation’s cybersecurity posture.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is also campaigning for better cybersecurity, and the agency will be engaging with citizens, communities and public and private sector partners this month to raise awareness of cyber best practices.
CISA Chief Information Officer Bob Costello will be speaking at the Potomac Officers Club’s Cybersecurity and Information Security Forum on Oct. 13. Register here!
On Monday, CISA issued a binding operational directive that ordered federal civilian agencies to better track and detect network vulnerabilities within their organizations.
Jen Easterly, director of CISA and a Wash100 Award winner, said federal civilian agencies will be mandated to report data about vulnerabilities using automated tools to allow CISA to better “manage federal cybersecurity as an enterprise.”
“Threat actors continue to target our nation’s critical infrastructure and government networks to exploit weaknesses within unknown, unprotected, or under-protected assets,” Easterly said of the growing cyber threat. Although the directive is only mandated for federal civilian agencies, Easterly hopes industry and commercial organizations will follow suit.
Participate in Cyber Awareness month, broaden your education and hear from the country’s foremost cybersecurity experts at the Potomac Officers Club’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Forum on Oct. 13. Click here to register.
