Picks of the Week: Cybersecurity Awareness Month at the Pell Center
National Cyber Security Awareness Month Kicks Off In Nation’s Capital | PR Newswire
Presidential Proclamation – National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, 2015 | The White House
Rhode Island Cybersecurity Commission Report Delivers Plan to Enhance Cybersecurity Efforts Statewide and Nationally | Rhode Island Office of the Governor
October marks National Cyber Security Awareness Month, in which citizens and businesses alike are encouraged to learn more about online safety and information security with the goal of raising awareness about cybersecurity and increasing the nation’s resilience in the event of a cyber incident.
Recognizing the importance of cybersecurity issues, President Obama designated October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month in 2004, and this year kicked things off with a presidential proclamation that highlighted his executive order to promote information sharing between government and industry, as well as the implementation of the National Cybersecurity Framework. “We now live in an era of the Internet—our children will never know a world without it,” Obama’s proclamation reads. “Our financial systems, our power grid, and our health systems run on it, and though widely helpful, this reliance reminds us of our need to remain aware, alert, and attentive on this new frontier. By working together to prevent and disrupt threats to our digital infrastructure, America can continue pioneering new discoveries and expanding the boundaries of humanity’s reach.”
National Cyber Security Awareness Month is a coordinated effort of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MSISAC), as well as companies, schools, and nonprofit organizations around the country.
To assist with this national effort, the Pell Center is posting cybersecurity tips daily on social media throughout the month, and is hosting multiple cybersecurity-related events, including a panel discussion on “Cybersecurity, the Internet, and the U.S. Presidential Race,” and a Cyber Resilience Workshop. The Pell Center will also host the second Summit of the Rhode Island Cybersecurity Commission, which was created by RI Governor Gina Raimondo in May 2015 to assess the state’s cybersecurity infrastructure and recommend ways to enhance the resiliency of government operations within all executive branch agencies and to promote the growth of a cybersecurity industry and workforce in Rhode Island. In addition, the Pell Center has provided extensive research and insights for the first RI Cybersecurity Commission’s report—released yesterday—which includes detailed recommendations to enhance the cybersecurity posture of the state and start developing a strong cyber ecosystem in Rhode Island. In addition, later this month the Pell Center will publish a more detailed study of the current level of ‘cyber readiness’ for states across the nation.
Although the theme of this second week of National Cyber Security Awareness Month is “Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity at Work,” the reality is that no individual, business, or government entity is immune to cyber risks and none of them is solely responsible for securing their own Internet connectivity and digital assets. All of us have a role to play in securing our part of cyberspace and the information we create, store, and process through the devices and networks we use. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility—we are, as they say, in this together. Individual actions have a collective impact, and when we use the Internet safely we make it more secure for everyone. If each of us does our part by implementing stronger security practices and adopting better cyber hygiene, we can collectively become a more resilient and safer digital society. – Francesca Spidalieri, Senior Fellow for Cyber Leadership