PCTA is a 2020 NCAM Champion!

Celebrating the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

By Isaiah Antonetti

PTECH Class of 2021

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Most people might not know it. It’s a time for businesses, government, and individuals to step back and reflect on their online practices while promoting awareness around cyber threats that affect our everyday lives as a nation as well as citizens of the cyberworld. 

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCAM) was launched in October 2004 by the National Cyber Security Alliance in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a broad effort to help all Americans stay safer and more secure online. As our lives rely more and more on the Internet, lots of efforts have been made nationwide since the launch of the NCAM seventeen years ago to promote a safer online environment. We’re proud to announce that PCTA is 2020 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Champion. What does that mean for us? It means that PCTA is among thousands of organizations and institutions across the nation who commit to help in promoting a safer, more secure, and more trusted Internet. But, we as individuals play a major role in keeping the Internet safe. This is one of the reasons why the 2020 Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme is ‘Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart’. 

As Cybersecurity students of class 2021, we have decided that throughout the month of October we will inform the PCTA community about the importance of Cybersecurity. We’ll provide you with some useful tips to empower you to own your role in protecting your part in cyberspace. 

Our first tip for the month is how to create a secure password. Passwords are considered as the first line of defense against cyber threats; it’s an important step to protecting yourself and your information online. We learned this week that 91% of users have a password from the 1000 most commonly used passwords. Your passwords might be ones of them. There are many free online tools available to detect if your password(s) are in that list or have been compromised. If so, it’s time to change your password(s) immediately. Here are some tips from the National Cybersecurity Alliance to help you create strong passwords:

• Use a long passphrase. According to NIST guidance, you should consider using the longest password or passphrase permissible. For example, you can use a passphrase such as a news headline or even the title of the last book you read. Then add in some punctuation and capitalization.
• Don’t make passwords easy to guess. Do not include personal information in your password such as your name or pets’ names. This information is often easy to find on social media, making it easier for cybercriminals to hack your accounts.
• Avoid using common words in your password. Substitute letters with numbers and punctuation marks or symbols. For example, @ can replace the letter “A” and an exclamation point (!) can replace the letters “I” or “L.”
• Get creative. Use phonetic replacements, such as “PH” instead of “F”. Or make deliberate, but obvious misspellings, such as “enjin” instead of “engine.”
• Keep your passwords on the down-low. Don’t tell anyone your passwords and watch for attackers trying to trick you into revealing your passwords through email or calls. Every time you share or reuse a password, it chips away at your security by opening up more avenues in which it could be misused or stolen.
• Unique account, unique password. Having different passwords for various accounts helps prevent cyber criminals from gaining access to these accounts and protect you in the event of a breach. It’s important to mix things up—find easy-to-remember ways to customize your standard password for different sites.
• Double your login protection. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure that the only person who has access to your account is you. Use it for email, banking, social media, and any other service that requires logging in. If MFA is an option, enable it by using a trusted mobile device, such as your smartphone, an authenticator app, or a secure token—a small physical device that can hook onto your key ring.
• Utilize a password manager to remember all your long passwords. The most secure way to store all of your unique passwords is by using a password manager. With just one master password, a computer can generate and retrieve passwords for every account that you have – protecting your online information, including credit card numbers and their three-digit Card Verification Value (CVV) codes, answers to security questions, and more.

I hope the information I have provided in this post will help you stay safe and secured online. But it'll require you to take the necessary steps, do your part to protect your passwords.

"Do your Part, #BeCyberSmart"