The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is kicking off its public service announcement (PSA) “Secure Our World” campaign that is focused on increasing cybersecurity awareness across government and private entities.
The PSA announcement was made on Sept. 26 during a CISA event that coincided with the announcement of the 20th annual cybersecurity awareness month in October.
“We aim to equip digital citizens with the basic tools that are needed to keep ourselves safe and secure online,” stated CISA Director Jen Easterly. “We want to make keeping information safe, just like buckling the seatbelt, brushing the teeth. Cyber hygiene is easy as a regular hygiene every day.”
Easterly said the campaign will encourage organizations and government agencies to adopt the following recommendations to keep them digitally safe:
- Use strong passwords for sensitive accounts;
- Enable multifactor authentication;
- Recognize phishing and report phishing attempts; and
- Update software regularly.
During the same event, cybersecurity stakeholders from the private industry reinforced the importance of the PSA announcement.
“I’m immersed in security during the day at work; I talk to security specialists all the time,” said Ron Green, chief security officer at Mastercard. “But how often did I talk to my son about fraudsters? ‘Secure Our World’ gives us the ability to leverage those tools and communication skills and take it home.”
As part of the campaign, CISA has created a PSA video and website to help inform people about steps they can take to secure their systems.
“This truly is something that has to be about partnerships, because it takes all of us to keep the world safe. So this is not just a CISA thing, this truly has to be something that’s about a community,” said Easterly.
