Main Corporations Honoring Cybersecurity Consciousness Month

COMMENTARY

Cybersecurity Consciousness Month, an annual initiative since 2004, supplies organizations every October with useful alternatives to bolster safety greatest practices amongst workers. As we have interaction in these actions this month, it is also a chance to find methods to construct a tradition of safety the place workers perceive how their every day choices and actions can have an effect on a company’s total safety.  

Staff stay each group’s greatest first line of protection. Making essentially the most safe approach of doing issues the best approach helps encourage workers to make security-first choices. For instance, getting workers to make use of multifactor authentication (MFA) — as soon as once more a high suggestion of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA) and the Nationwide Cybersecurity Alliance (NSA) — is likely one of the easiest and only methods to reinforce safety. Fifteen years in the past, when AWS made MFA publicly accessible, we knew the criticality of utilizing MFA would solely improve as know-how quickly advanced and the cloud ushered in a brand new period of enterprise transformation.  

At AWS, Cybersecurity Consciousness Month can be a chance to foster inner cross-team collaboration and studying amongst workers — whether or not “security” is formally of their title or not. Throughout Amazon’s annual Safety Week in October, workers will study on-line and bodily safety greatest practices, the right way to simply report a safety matter, correct ID badge utilization, machine safety, and the right way to opt-in for emergency messaging.  

We’re additionally internet hosting our fourth annual One Amazon Safety Convention, bringing our safety groups from throughout the corporate collectively for 2 days in October to attach, collaborate, and amplify data sharing and ability growth. By means of a wide range of programming, together with actions to reinforce sensible safety abilities, breakout classes protecting safety improvements and greatest practices, and shows from consultants and Amazon safety leaders, workers will study our efforts to enhance safety, each internally and for our prospects.  

Mark Hughes, International Managing Associate Cybersecurity Providers, IBM Consulting 

At IBM, we’re dedicated to educating and empowering our groups and purchasers with the data and instruments they should keep safe. As modern new options assist advance immediately’s companies, we additionally perceive the complexity of addressing new cybersecurity threats and advocate to our purchasers the significance of proactively embedding safety into all features of their enterprise. 

Cybersecurity Consciousness Month supplies a chance for IBM to drive consciousness, spotlight our safety experience, and interact our world neighborhood across the necessary position of cybersecurity. We’re kicking October off with our “Cloud Threat Landscape” report that may study cloud threats and spotlight how firms can assess and tackle their dangers in areas equivalent to id entry administration and information safety. All through the month, we’ll showcase these findings, alongside key takeaways from our current “Cost of a Data Breach” report, by a collection of digital content material, together with expert-led discussions and security-themed insights, equipping our consultants with the methods wanted to assist purchasers tackle rising cloud threats and successfully undertake automation and generative AI (GenAI) to strengthen their safety. 

Whereas IBM educates our workers year-round, Cybersecurity Consciousness Month permits us to accentuate our deal with security-based abilities coaching for our consultants whereas empowering them to get safety trade certifications to assist present steering to our purchasers on architectures and applied sciences that may assist them keep forward of assaults. 

By creating a company with a security-first mindset, and leveraging the capabilities of the cloud, automation, and GenAI, IBM educates our workers, informs our purchasers, and conjures up new approaches to cybersecurity — like quantum-safe requirements — to bolster our dedication to a safe digital future. 

Atticus Tysen, Chief Data Safety Officer, Intuit  

This yr, our theme for Cybersecurity Consciousness Month is Cyber Wellness, specializing in the significance of sustaining digital well being alongside bodily well-being. We’re utilizing this theme to focus on that defending our digital lives is an ongoing accountability, like taking care of our bodily well being. By means of this theme, we purpose to foster a tradition of steady cybersecurity consciousness, encouraging workers to take proactive steps in safeguarding themselves and Intuit. 

As a part of our Cybersecurity Consciousness Month program, our chief monetary officer (CFO), Sandeep Aujla, and our common counsel, Kerry McLean, will be a part of me in a gap keynote, sharing why cybersecurity is essential to our firm’s total success. Along with common classes for all workers, we have crafted focused classes for teams recognized as being extra vulnerable to social engineering, based mostly on months of phishing simulation information. This targeted method permits us to instantly tackle the wants of particular teams. 

Josh Blackwelder, Deputy Chief Data Safety Officer, SentinelOne  

SentinelOne lives and breathes safety, all day, day by day. And whereas our mission — Safe Tomorrow — is most frequently targeted on a promise and dedication to our prospects, it extends far past the enterprise objectives of the corporate to securing our teammates, communities, and democracy, as complete. We see Cybersecurity Consciousness Month as a option to deliver our experience into our communities — serving to to create future generations of cyber-aware residents whereas increasing the following technology of cyber defenders.  

For Cybersecurity Consciousness Month, SentinelOne focuses on its CyberSafe College program, an in-school program that targets youngsters in grades Ok-12 and is designed to introduce the idea of cybersecurity in age- and activity-appropriate methods.  

This system supplies a variety of ways in which youngsters can take into consideration their on-line actions and privateness. For youthful elementary college students, we deal with important abilities for safeguarding private information on-line. For center schoolers, we deal with the perfect practices to retain cybersecurity security, together with the significance of multifactor authentication. For older college students, we additionally embrace info on the right way to pursue a profession in cybersecurity, what to main in, and main college applications across the globe.  

Over the previous two years, this large volunteer effort has delivered superb outcomes — over 100 International SentinelOne Worker Ambassadors have been in a position to attain greater than 12,000 college students, in over 40 colleges, in eight nations. 

Raul Sanchez, Director of Data Safety, Gallo 

Gallo acknowledges Cyber Consciousness Month with a collection of participating, instructional initiatives aimed toward enhancing the cyber resilience of its workforce. The spotlight is the annual Cybersecurity Consciousness Day occasion, held at company headquarters. This occasion options keynote audio system and illustration from our safety companions, providing insights into the most recent cyber threats and greatest practices. Designed to be enjoyable and academic, the occasion supplies workers with hands-on experiences and sensible data to higher defend the group and its information. Including a twist, the occasion additionally features a 5 kilometer run/stroll, permitting workers to earn factors within the firm’s well being and wellness program whereas selling bodily health alongside cyber health.  

Along with the attention day occasion, Gallo hosts weekly cybersecurity webinars all through October. These classes cowl a variety of subjects, from phishing prevention to safe password administration, and are designed to coach workers on the right way to acknowledge and reply to potential threats. The webinars are effectively acquired, providing workers the flexibleness to take part and study at their very own tempo.  

To maintain cybersecurity high of thoughts, the data safety division additionally publishes every day safety suggestions for all Gallo workers. The following tips present sensible recommendation and actionable steps workers can take to enhance their private {and professional} cybersecurity practices. By integrating these every day reminders into the workday, Gallo ensures that cybersecurity stays a precedence all through the month, resulting in a extra ready and vigilant workforce.  

Concerning the Contributors

Mark Hughes is the worldwide managing accomplice of IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Providers and leads IBM’s group of 1000’s of consultants in serving to organizations remodel safety right into a enterprise enabler and set up cyber resiliency. His position spans the gross sales and companies supply of menace detection and response, information safety, cloud safety, IAM, infrastructure, danger administration and ecosystem partnerships. Mark’s cybersecurity profession spans throughout twenty years, together with current roles as president of safety at DXC Know-how, a Fortune 500 world know-how companies supplier, and chief government at BT Safety, a number one world telecommunications supplier.  

As senior vp and chief info safety officer (CISO) of Intuit, Atticus Tysen is answerable for info safety, fraud prevention, and enterprise info know-how. Earlier than assuming this expanded position, Tysen served as chief info officer (CIO) for practically 10 years. Previous to that, Tysen was vp of product growth for Intuit’s Monetary Administration Options group, main product growth efforts for the corporate’s Small Enterprise division. Since becoming a member of Intuit in 2002, he has additionally served as director of recent know-how and led the corporate’s patent program, constructing a course of to guard the corporate’s mental property. Tysen earned a bachelor’s diploma in pc science from Stanford College. 

Josh Blackwelder has been on the forefront of enhancing safety operations at SentinelOne since early 2022. His management extends throughout cloud safety engineering, safety operations, FedRAMP, safety engineering, vendor danger, safety structure, and utility safety. Earlier than becoming a member of SentinelOne, Josh held safety management positions at Instructer (makers of the educational administration software program Canvas), in addition to Adobe, RBS Markets & Worldwide Banking, and Verizon Enterprise. 

Raul Sanchez, director of data safety of Gallo, is a seasoned safety skilled with intensive expertise in all aspects of IT compliance, privateness, vendor danger administration, safety design and structure, regulatory audits, and managing the safety of mergers and acquisitions. In recent times, he has targeted on implementing fashionable cybersecurity initiatives and enhancing cyber resilience to higher defend towards evolving threats. His capacity to ascertain significant relationships with enterprise groups allows the efficient execution of enterprise initiatives whereas guaranteeing the safety of buyer and company information and sustaining the corporate’s constructive model popularity.