What you should know about Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024
The educational focus of this year's event, which is now 20 years old, is using MFA and stronger passwords.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which has been observed every October since 2004, is all about making a safer digital world.
This year’s theme was Secure Our World, according to the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The educational focus is on using strong passwords and multifactor authentication, updating software, and recognizing and reporting phishing.
Data compiled by the NCA showed 84% of people considered online safety a priority in 2023, while just 38% of them reported using unique passwords for all their accounts.
Other key facts from the study include:
- Seventy-nine percent of respondents were familiar with multifactor authentication.
- Seventy percent of those who have heard of multifactor authentication know how to use it.
- Thirty-six percent of people install software updates when they become available.
- Sixty-nine percent of people express confidence in their ability to identify phishing attempts.
- Fifty-one percent of Americans actively report cybercrimes, particularly instances of phishing.
As part of this year’s theme and to further promote cybersecurity awareness, CISA and the NCA suggests other organizations use social media hashtags and posts, emails and press release campaigns, volunteer at a school or library to educate their community, or request a CISA speaker or NCA presentation.
Already in 2024, more than half of all U.S. companies have filed a cyber-claim, according to a recent report by Delinea, with the frequency of cyber insurance claims remaining high.
The data showed 62% filed a claim over the last 12 months while more than 27% filed multiple claims.
Recently, a Nationwide survey showed small business owners often misjudge cyberattack recovery, as 65% think costs would be $5,000 or less, and 20% think they’d recover in under a month.
Meanwhile, six in ten small businesses believe their non-cyber insurance provides coverage for breaches, ransomware incidents and other digital loss events, according to Nationwide, with only 42% of small business owners saying they have cyber insurance coverage.
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