Cybersecurity Awareness Month is around the corner, is your financial institution ready?

Cybersecurity Awareness Month¹ is an annual campaign held in October to promote awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and encourage individuals and organizations to take proactive steps to protect themselves from online threats. Financial institutions are responsible for ensuring that their employees and customers are provided training and awareness for cybersecurity threats (see Domain 1 of the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool).

Thankfully, we are not alone in having to develop these resources! The National Cybersecurity Alliances and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) have created free resources to help us build our own campaigns for employees and customers. The 2023 Champion program is a way to officially show your support and receive free resources. According to the National Cybersecurity Alliance’s website, registered Champions receive a Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2023 toolkit that includes:

• A guide to Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2023
• Social media graphics and sample social media posts
• A sample email to send to employees and press release for organizations
• Cybersecurity Awareness Month logos and branding guidelines
• A video conference background and email signature
• Sample articles
• Tip Sheets and Infographics on
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Phishing
  • Software Updates
  • Passwords
  • Ransomware

How do we make the most of these resources available to us?

1. Register now. Sign up to become a registered champion at the link below:

https://staysafeonline.org/programs/cybersecurity-champion/

2. Start planning your campaign.
   • Work with your marketing department or partner to schedule social media posts, website pages, press releases, and/or emails to employees and customers.
   • Determine where you can best use the tip sheets and infographics provided by CISA.
   • Utilize your training platform to schedule special trainings for employees throughout the month. For example, KnowBe4 offers specialized training around the topics discussed in the Cybersecurity Awareness Month campaigns.

3. Document everything you do.
   • First, this helps you demonstrate that you completed the Baseline requirements in the CAT Tool.
   • Secondly, you can refer to your plan during next year’s campaign and make things a bit easier on yourself and your team.

While Cybersecurity Awareness Month only lasts for a month, the campaign strives to promote cybersecurity awareness and best practices throughout the year, encouraging individuals and organizations to maintain vigilance in protecting themselves online.

Bedel Security assists financial institutions across the country with managing their Information Security program every day of the year. If you have questions or would like to learn more about what we do, please contact us at support@bedelsecurity.com to start a conversation.

Additional Resources

1. Cybersecurity Awareness Month
https://staysafeonline.org/programs/cybersecurity-awareness-month/