Boost your Cyber Security Awareness

October is Cyber Security Awareness month. Cyber Security Awareness month was officially launched by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in October of 2004. At first, the effort was aimed around common cyber security facts and advice. Since then, the two organizations have worked collaboratively to provide education, resources, and training that ensures that people know about cyber security risks and understand how to implement cyber security best practices. In 2011, the NCSA and DHS created weekly themes where each week of the month of October focused on specific aspects of cyber security such as education, cybercrime, or mobility. This year the theme is “Do Your Part. “BeCyberSmart.”  This week especially focuses on cyber awareness in business and the career field.

Cyber Security is the protection of networks, applications, information and the operation of computer systems.  Computer threats and risks come in the form of malware, phishing, man in the middle attacks, denial of service attacks, SQL injection, zero-day exploits, password cracking, cross site scripting and DNS attacks. Everyone should be protected when using the internet and internet systems because malicious cyber activity takes place on a single home system or affect an entire network in an organization. Cyber breaches and malicious attacks are costly and can be debilitating to a company. Organizations who experience an attack can suffer loses in profit, productivity, customers, business partners and overall reputation. Earlier this year, T- Mobile suffered a cyber security breach that resulted in the exposure of more than 4 million customers personal information. (Grullón Paz, I.). Consequently, T Mobile saw a nearly $5.3BN share value loss and may face a $250 million fine (Fletcher, B.)

That is why the cyber security professional field is so important. Education and training in cyber security can help prevent organizations from having to deal with loses associated with attacks. These professionals protect computer systems and networks by building IT systems, maintaining system operations, planning and executing security measures, analyzing vulnerabilities, and deploying security measures. As technology continues to advance, so will the amount and nature of cyber-attacks. Therefore, the cyber security professionals continue to be in high demand.  According to an article by Kelly O’Hara titled, “The Future of Cyber Security Jobs” The Bureau of Labor statistics has forecasted that cyber security jobs is expected to grow 37% fr0m 2021 2022. O’Hara concludes that the growth is, “…much faster than the average for all other occupations” (O’Hara, K.). Some careers cyber security professionals attain include:

• Security analyst
• Security auditor
• Security administrators
• Chief information security officer
• Cyber security engineer
• Incident responder
• Penetration tester
• Vulnerability accessor

Some companies and organizations have an Internal IT department that maintains the internal network and Cyber awareness education and training should not just be limited to the IT department in your company or organization Although they are the experts, it is beneficial that all employees know what to look. Phoenix TS offers courses that will teach participants about what cyber security is, types of cyber security attacks, types of cyber criminals and the motivators behind their attacks, and countermeasures. Phoenix TS has partnerships with industry leading and respected cyber security organizations such as CompTIA, EC – Council, and CISCO. Phoenix also regularly runs classes that from ISACA () and (ISC)² Additionally, Phoenix has CYBERPHOENIX courses. These courses were researched and organized by Phoenix TS to teach participants specific requirements that will help participants meets compliance needs, pass exams or earn certifications. See a list of courses below:

CYBERPHOENIX

• Cyber Security and Embedded Systems
• Cyber Warfare for Practitioners
• Incident Response Training
• Malware Analysis

CompTIA

• Security + Certification Training
• Network + Certification Training
• A + Certification Training
• Linux + Certification Training
• CASP + Certification Training
• CYSA +Certification Training
• PenTest + Certification Training

Cisco

• SSFAMP v5.0 Certification Training
• SASAA v2.1 Certification Training
• IINS Certification Training

EC – Council

• CEH Certification Training
• CPENT Certification Training
• CHFI Certification Training
• CND Certification Training

ISACA

• CISM Certification Training
• CISA Certification Training
• CRISC Certification Training

(ISC)²

• CCSP Certification Training
• CISSP Certification Training
• CSSLP Certification Training

To see the full catalog and sign up for courses, visit Phoenix TS at phoenixts.com or call 240-667-7757.

References:

About Cybersecurity Awareness Month. National Cybersecurity Awareness Alliance. (2021). Retrieved October 12, 2021.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2021, from https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month.

Fletcher, B. (2021, August 20). T-Mobile discloses 5.3M more postpaid accounts hit in data breach. FIERCE Wireless. Retrieved October 14, 2021, from https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/t-mobile-discloses-5-3m-more-postpaid-accounts-hit-data-breach.

Grullón Paz, I. (2021, August 18). T Mobile Says Hack Exposed Personal Data of 40 Million People. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/business/tmobile-data-breach.html.

O’Hara, K. (2021). The Future of Cybersecurity Jobs. Monster. Retrieved October 11, 2021, from https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/future-of-cybersecurity-jobs.

What is Cybersecurity? kaspersky. (2021). Retrieved October 10, 2021, from https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-cyber-security.