The National Cybersecurity Awareness Month October
2019 theme is “OWN IT. SECURE IT. PROTECT IT.” This theme emphasizes three
roles each individual plays in online safety and enhancing cybersecurity at
home and at work.
•
“OWN IT: Understand Your Digital Profile.” Many individuals have several
accounts on various social media platforms and use a variety of apps on their
devices that can present opportunities for malicious actors to compromise
sensitive personal information.
•
“SECURE IT: Secure Your Digital Profile.” The web is a vast, information-dense
space filled with digital footprints that make it easy for cybercriminals to
obtain personal information about potential victims.
•
“PROTECT IT: Maintain Your Digital Profile.” Understanding and modifying
security settings, creating strong passwords, and implementing multi-factor
authentication are effective ways to secure your online accounts and protect
your data. All of these measures are a part of good cyber hygiene.
Cybersecurity is a shared
responsibility. Cybercriminals do not discriminate and can target home users,
small businesses, and large corporations at any time. Although National
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort between government and
industry to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity every
October, it is important to be cyber smart and continue cybersecurity best
practices all year.
We often
see reports of vishing (or voice-based phishing) scams, a form of social
engineering, conducted by impersonating trustworthy people or entities over the
phone in an attempt to convince a target to divulge personal or financial
information or take an action, such as allowing remote access to their device.
These criminals will often conduct preliminary reconnaissance on their targets
before attempting to make contact in order to craft the most believable
scenario possible. They may impersonate an individual within an organization or
an external entity, such as an internal help desk employee or external
technical support specialist. Incoming calls may show up as unrecognized or
spoofed phone numbers which appear as though they are coming from a known
contact. We highly recommend users refrain from answering unexpected
calls from unknown or suspicious numbers. If these calls are answered, do not
respond to any requests for sensitive information and hang up immediately. If
suspicious inquiries are made from representatives of a trustworthy entity,
call them back using a known legitimate phone number to verify the
authenticity of a request. We advise users to review the New Jersey
Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) publication Tired
of Receiving Scam Calls? Don’t Just Sit There. Do Something About It for
additional information and tips about phone scams.
Have a Great Day!
Stan Field, CFE, CFCE
Department of Information Technology
Chief Information Security Officer
County of Cumberland
135 Sunny Slope Drive
Bridgeton, NJ 08332
Email: stanfi@co.cumberland.nj.us
856-453-2127 ext 12310
856-332-2254 (c)