NRTC Promoting Online Safety and Privacy for Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Randy Sukow
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The overarching message of this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) – “If you Connect it, Protect it” – dives into the importance of keeping connected devices safe and secure from outside influence. NRTC is committed to that theme and to keeping its members’ online businesses safe. This year, NRTC is signing up as an “NCSAM Champion” during the annual October observance and joining a growing global effort to promote online safety and privacy awareness.
Connected devices are woven into our society more than ever. Data collected from these devices can include highly personal or sensitive business information. Bad actors sometimes use the data for their own gain. Cybersecurity Awareness Month sheds light on security vulnerabilities while offering ideas to limit the threats.
The Champions Program is a collaborative effort among businesses, government agencies, colleges/universities, associations, nonprofit organizations and individuals committed to this year’s NCSAM theme of “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.” Champions seek to show individuals and organizations how to protect their part of cyberspace.
The 2020 program highlights weekly focus areas:
- Understanding and following general security hygiene for connected devices and home networks;
- The importance of connected devices security for remote workers;
- How connected devices play a pivotal role in the future of healthcare, and
- The overall future of connected devices for consumers, professionals and the public domain.
If everyone does their part – implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable audiences or training employees – our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for everyone.
NRTC is proud to support this far-reaching online safety awareness and education initiative which is co-led by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. We offer a wide variety of security solutions for rural communications service providers across the country including DDoS Mitigation, Cyber Risk Assessments, Adversarial Simulations, Cyber Risk Awareness Training and much more.
NRTC also provides resalable software and services to help keep members’ residential and business end users safe from the ever-growing number of threats.
For more information about Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020 and how to participate in a wide variety of activities, visit staysafeonline.org/cybersecurity-awareness-month/. You can also follow and use the official hashtag #BeCyberSmart on social media throughout the month.
Dan Timmer is the director of marketing based at NRTC’s Cedar Rapids, IA, office.
