If you’re reading this, you know it’s important to be cyber-aware 365 days a year, but for more than 20 years, October has been as synonymous in the tech world with cybersecurity as it is with pumpkins and ghosts. In October 2004, in a pre-smartphone, pre-TikTok, pre-artificial intelligence (AI) everywhere world, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NSCA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) observed the first National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Learn more about its history in this edition of Tech Time Warp.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a global initiative
Many things have changed since 2004—not the least of which is the target user demographic for Facebook! Today, in recognition of the international need to address cybersecurity, the event has dropped the “national” and is simply Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and it’s a partnership between the National Cybersecurity Alliance (note that “cybersecurity” is now one word) and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which became a standalone federal agency in 2018.
Another change: Cybersecurity Awareness Month now has a recurring overarching theme—“Secure Our World”—instead of a unique theme each year. There’s even a snazzy “Schoolhouse Rocks”-style video available in English and Spanish to publicize the “Secure Our World” theme and its four universally smart strategies: recognize and report phishing, use strong passwords, turn on multifactor authentication, and update software.
Past Cybersecurity Awareness Month themes have included “STOP. THINK. CONNECT.” in conjunction with the 2010 launch of a global online safety awareness campaign, and “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart,” used from 2019 to 2022. No matter what you want to call it, we all have a part to play in cybersecurity, and the resources and publicity available during Cybersecurity Awareness Month are valuable tools to help end users understand the dangers present online.
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