October Newsletter | Cybersecurity Awareness Month

SIDECHAIN INSIGHTS

October was CyberSecurity Awareness Month – this is an international initiative that educates everyone about online safety and empowers individuals and businesses to protect their data from cybercrime.

How would you rate your organization’s safety?

Quick Take

The theme of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is Secure Our World, here to remind us that there are simple ways to protect yourself, your family and your business from online threats.The campaign, led by the National CyberSecurity Alliance focuses on the top four ways to stay safe online:
Use strong passwords and a password manager

Turn on multi-factor authentication

Recognize and report phishing

Update software

If your organization is doing all of the above then you’re putting yourselves in a strong position to combat threats!

If you feel like you have some gaps, contact Sidechain Security for a free assessment – info@sidechainsecurity.com or +1 (833) 744-1421

If you would like a copy of the Annual Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviors Report 2024, also known as “Oh Behave”! – click here. The goal of the report is to provide actionable insights to help cybersecurity professionals, educators and policy makers develop more effective strategies to enhance online security. Some of the key takeaways from last year include:

38% share sensitive work information with AI without their employers knowledge.
23% of people don’t complete security awareness training because they “already know enough” and interestingly…
Millennials reported the most cybercrime incidents

Quiz

Many of our customers have fully remote offices, in fact, Sidechain is also fully remote! Do your employees know which security standards they should follow before connecting to the company network remotely? Have your remote employees take this quiz to see how much they know!!

The first five people to send their correct answers to us here, will receive Sidechain swag!

1. Before connecting remotely to the company network, your personal device should meet the same security requirements as company-issued devices. True or False?

What is a common way to help protect devices connected to the company network?
1. Only use laptops and other mobile devices with full-disk encryption
2. Change your smartphone settings to let your devices connect automatically to public WiFi
3. Let guests and customers use the same secure WiFi that you use
4. Use the router’s preset password so you won’t forget it

Keeping your router’s default name will help security professionals identify it and thus help protect your network’s security. True or False?

WPA2 and WPA3 encryption are the encryption standards that will protect information sent over a wireless network. True or False?

Which of the following describes the best way to make sure you are securely accessing the company network remotely?
1. Read your company’s cybersecurity policies thoroughly
2. Use VPN when connecting remotely to the company network
3. Use unique, complex, network passwords and avoid unattended open work stations
4. Do all of the above

Keep scrolling to see if you got it right!

Industry Trends and News

The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is proposing security requirements to prevent adversary states from accessing American’s personal data as well as government-related information. The requirements are aimed at entities that engage in restricted transactions that involve bulk U.S. sensitive personal data or U.S. government-related data, especially if the info is exposed to “countries of concern” or “covered persons.” If this impacts you or your company, read more here to see the CISA proposed security measures.

Uber has been fined $325 million for moving driver data from Europe to US – if you’re familiar with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), you’ll know that it’s the most rigorous form of personal data protection in the world today. Anyone doing business with a European company or having offices based in Europe must comply. If you think GDPR applies to your company and you do not have appropriate policies and procedures in place, contact Sidechain here for a free assessment!

Data Encryption Decoded

Data Security

Do you know how key Data Security Engineers are to your organization? Read more here to become more familiar with Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) and the role that your data security engineers play.

And following on from that…

Outsourcing CipherTrust Management

IF you’re reading this newsletter then you are either using Sidechain to manage your data protection or you are at least aware that we provide this as a valuable service. But do you know the benefits? Read on to discover why it might be a smart move!