[oagitm] MS-ISAC - Cyber Security Newsletter Tip - October 2012 - National Cyber Security Awareness Month: Tips for Staying Safe Online
- From: "MASSE Theresa A * CIO" <theresa.a.masse@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "oagitm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <oagitm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 16:07:08 +0000
OAGITM Members:
MS-ISAC distributed their newsletter early this month and the focus, of course,
is on 'National Cyber Security Awareness Month'. So, please take advantage of
these resources to raise awareness in your organization this month - and
throughout the year!
Regards,
Theresa A. Masse
Chief Information Security Officer
State of Oregon
Department of Administrative Services
Enterprise Security Office
503-378-4896
Data Classification 2 - Limited
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Monthly Security Tips
NEWSLETTER
October 2012
Volume 7, Issue 10
National Cyber Security Awareness Month: Tips for Staying Safe Online
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. This is an effort
coordinated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Multi-State ISAC,
and the National Cyber Security Alliance along with many governments,
businesses, schools, and other groups to help improve cyber security
preparedness. It's a great time to evaluate your online activities and take
some basic steps to protect yourself.
Why Is National Cyber Security Awareness Month So Important?
In our online, mobile society, we are faced with an increasing barrage of cyber
threats every day. Whether at work, home, school, virtually every part of our
lives is now in some way or another connected to the Internet. Did you know...?
* Someone becomes a victim of cyber crime every 18 seconds
* Cyber crime costs an average of nearly $200 per victim
* Mobile device vulnerabilities doubled in 2011 from 2010
* 40% of social network users have been victims of cyber crime on a social
networking site
(Source all: Symantec)
What Can You Do to Participate in Cyber Security Awareness Month?
The theme of National Cyber Security Awareness Month is: Cyber Security Is Our
Shared Responsibility. Each one of us plays an important role in securing
cyberspace, and there are many actions we can take to make a positive impact.
Take the Cyber Pledge!
The Multi-State ISAC is conducting a national Cyber Security Pledge campaign
during Awareness Month to help users understand good practices for staying safe
on the Internet and affirm a commitment to online safety. You can join
thousands of people across the country and sign the pledge online by visiting
MS-ISAC at https://msisac.cisecurity.org/cyber-pledge/
Join the MS-ISAC on October 11 at 2PM for a free, one-hour webinar on how to
stay safe from online scams, hackers, viruses, and more! Details and
registration: www.cisecurity.org<http://www.cisecurity.org/>
Tune into the Cyber Security Webinar Series for additional webcasts each week
during October, with practical tips on cyber ethics, cloud computing, &
more.http://www.naco.org/meetings/webinars/Pages/CybersecurityWebinarSeries.aspx
Distribute the MS-ISAC Awareness Toolkit Materials
Posters, calendars, bookmarks, and more that you can share throughout your
organizations, in your community, and with your family are all free and
available online:
http://msisac.cisecurity.org/resources/toolkit/oct12/index.cfm#toolkit
Implement Basic Cyber Security Best Practices
* Secure your computer. Be sure to have a firewall installed and enabled on
your computer. Use spyware and adware protection software. This software is
designed to protect you against spyware or malware, which can extract private
information from your computer without your knowledge. Set these programs to
auto-update to avoid missing a critical update.
* Use strong passwords on all your accounts. Use a minimum of eight
characters and a mix of special symbols, letters, and numbers. Use separate
passwords for each account, so that if one account password is breached, an
attacker will not automatically have access to all of your other accounts. Do
Not re-use your work password on other systems.
* Secure your online transaction. When submitting your sensitive
information, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar to be sure
your information is secure during transmission. Also be sure that "https"
appears in the website's address bar before making an online transaction. The
"s" stands for "secure," and indicates that communication with the webpage is
encrypted.
* Don't reveal too much personal information online. The less information
you post, the less data available for a cyber criminal to use in a potential
attack or scam.
* Protect your laptop, smartphone, or other portable devices when
traveling.Just as your wallet contains lots of important and personal
information that you wouldn't want to lose, so too do your portable devices.
Don't let them out of your sight! Never store your laptop as checked luggage.
If there is a room safe available at your hotel, use it to securely store your
devices. In addition, make sure you have strong passwords on these devices in
case they are lost or stolen.
* Be aware that public computers and public wireless access are not secure.
Cyber criminals can potentially access any information you provide, such as
credit card numbers, confidential information, or passwords. Don't conduct any
sensitive transactions at the local free Wi-Fi site.
* Understand if and how location data is used. Check to see if GPS location
data is being stored when you upload pictures to your social media site from
your mobile device, and disable it if you don't want the world to know exactly
where the picture was taken.
* Do not e-mail sensitive data. Beware of emails requesting account or
purchase information. Delete these emails. Never e-mail credit card or other
financial/sensitive information. Legitimate businesses don't solicit sensitive
or confidential information through email.
* Dispose of information properly. Before discarding your computer or
portable storage devices, you need to be sure that the data contained on the
device has been erased or "wiped." Read/writable media (including your hard
drive) should be "wiped" using Department of Defense (DOD) compliant software.
For More Information
* MS-ISAC Awareness Month Resources:
http://msisac.cisecurity.org/resources/toolkit/
* Stop.Think.Connect
http://stopthinkconnect.org<http://stopthinkconnect.org/>/
* National Cyber Security Alliance http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam/
The information provided in the Monthly Security Tips Newsletters is intended
to increase the security awareness of an organization's end users and to help
them behave in a more secure manner within their work environment. While some
of the tips may relate to maintaining a home computer, the increased awareness
is intended to help improve the organization's overall cyber security posture.
This is especially critical if employees access their work network from their
home computer. Organizations have permission and are encouraged to brand and
redistribute this newsletter in whole for educational, non-commercial purposes.
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