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This week sees the start of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), and we’re excited to participate. Motorola Solutions is dedicated to providing cybersecurity knowledge year-round to help public safety agencies and enterprise companies better understand the evolving threat landscape and risks of cyber threats. As an NCSAM Champion, we’ll be sharing additional resources throughout the month of October, including blogs on passwords, patching and phishing.
In this blog, we’ll discuss how you can take advantage of a new cyber threat intelligence sharing initiative for public safety, as well as new state and local government cybersecurity grants. You’ll also find details about our cybersecurity presence at the upcoming International Association of Chiefs of Police conference.
What Is Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month began in 2004. This annual awareness and education initiative is co-led by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As a collaborative effort between government and industry to raise awareness about online safety, it’s supported by hundreds of Champion organizations.
This year’s theme is “See Yourself in Cyber.” It focuses on how you can stay safe online by following some basic cybersecurity guidelines. With new cyber threats constantly emerging, it’s important to understand your role in protecting not only your personal data and accounts against them, but your mission-critical systems, too.
Understand Cyber Risks to Mission-Critical Systems
While public safety agencies are busy adopting new technology to better meet the demands and needs of the citizens they serve, cyber criminals are trying equally hard to find ways to disrupt their operations, steal sensitive data and compromise communications.
For example, CISA recently published a new guide on cyber risks to Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems. First responders rely on LMR systems for instant, reliable and secure push-to-talk communications. The evolution of LMR networks and other mission-critical systems from analog to digital has brought many technical advancements. However, it has also made them more susceptible to cyber threats.
Understanding the methods and motivations of threat actors is crucial to developing a proactive program to defend against attacks against these systems. Getting that level of insight, though, requires cybersecurity experts familiar with the threat actors targeting agencies, as well as the knowledge to make sound recommendations on how to act on that information.
Summary
As Cybersecurity Awareness Month kicks off, it’s the perfect time to evaluate your organization’s people, processes and technology for cybersecurity strengths and weaknesses, as well as your personal habits, to see where and how they can be improved. It’s important to remember that it’s no longer a matter of if, but when, a cyber attack will occur, and that there’s no such thing as a closed system anymore.
The good news is that there are resources like the PSTA and cybersecurity grants available for public safety. Motorola Solutions’ cybersecurity experts are here to help your agency or organization be aware and prepared, too, and to provide you with the products, services and resources you need to better protect your mission.
Follow Motorola Solutions on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for more #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth tips to #BeCyberSafe.
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