As we close out a successful month celebrating Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’ve been reflecting on all that we were able to accomplish. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort between the government and industries to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and ensure safe practices online. October is an excellent time for organizations to review policies, assess security preparedness, and educate employees about cybersecurity responsibilities.
Throughout the month, RH-ISAC has been celebrating with several initiatives, emails to members, a lot of discussions on social media, and of course the RH-ISAC Cyber Intelligence Summit on October 6-8. RH-ISAC also spoke at a member company event about security awareness, with the goal to educate employees about the best cybersecurity practices. The session left the member with actionable insights to bolster cybersecurity efforts.
Additionally, we published a phishing simulation report with Cofense. For the second year in a row, Cofense partnered with the RH-ISAC to conduct a study across its members by running a phishing simulation benchmark campaign. Participation was voluntary, with a fair number of members joining in. We had 14 companies complete the campaign within the August timeframe and was executed from the Cofense PhishMe solution. To learn more and review the results, contact [email protected].
To close out the month with our CISO members, the RH-ISAC is hosting a CISO Roundtable discussion on October 29 from 3:00 – 5:00 PM ET that will focus on the Cybersecurity Awareness Month’s week four theme, “The Future of Connected Devices,” with a presentation of the Ponemon Institute and Shared Assessment’s recent report, “A New Roadmap for Third Party IoT Risk Management – the Critical Need to Elevate Awareness, Authority and Engagement.” Following the presentation, RH-ISAC member Matt Dunlop of Under Armour and Kostas Georgeakopoulos of P&G will share their perspective of the enterprise risk of connected things. This discussion will be open to member and non-member CISOs and Deputy CISOs only. Find out more and register here.
Our community also had a great month celebrating! We are proud of our active community, helping to kick off the month with the incredible RH-ISAC Summit. The summit featured a member-driven agenda which included sessions delivered by prominent thought leaders, experts from the provider community, collaborative workshops, cybersecurity exercises, and exceptional networking opportunities. All in all, it brought in over 500 cybersecurity experts, 60+ speakers, seven impactful keynotes, and produced some excellent breakout sessions. Read the full recap of the event here.
Members continued the momentum by facilitating a slew of events to educate their audience and raise awareness about cybersecurity’s increasing importance, which included guest speakers, themed weeks, internal webinars and discussions, and weekly newsletters. Members also had several initiatives for the month, including:
- Phishing campaigns
- Cybersecurity attack simulations
- Game nights, trivia, and scavenger hunts
- Escape rooms, capture-the-flags, and cyber range exercises
- Hackathons and secure coding camps
- Shred day
- Employee training
- Introducing infosec team to their organizations
Additionally, to keep conversations about security going, RH-ISAC members have been on social media feeds about security awareness—sharing thought leadership and educating followers about news within cybersecurity.
Joining the RH-ISAC is one of the best ways organizations can protect themselves and their employees against cyber threats and vulnerabilities while taking an active stance in safeguarding the retail and hospitality sector. Hinging on the month theme of ‘Do Your Part. #BeCybersmart,‘ the RH-ISAC offered a 90-day complimentary membership for retail, travel, and hospitality companies to join our highly active intelligence and information sharing community through October 31. If you didn’t take advantage of the offer, reach out to [email protected] to see what we can do for you!
Let us know what your organization did to celebrate the month! We are excited to celebrate in 2021! Happy Cybersecurity Awareness Month!
