Cybersecurity must be your priority

Have you been scammed? Do you even know?

There are innumerable ways people, businesses and governments are scammed online — from emails to texts to social media. Criminals have always been industrious and will continue to find ways to con people out of money. Technology offers benefits but also hazards. While businesses evolve to protect clients and customers, municipalities and individuals must do the same.

In 2004, Congress first recognized October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and in the decades since, awareness is no longer the priority — vigilance and deterrence are. We know there are security risks. How do individuals, businesses and municipalities protect themselves?

The National Cybersecurity Alliance urges individuals and businesses to actively protect their online data. Few people haven't received a scam, from a spam text to an email asking for money. And those are the attempts we see. There are likely more attempted intrusions we aren't aware of.

That makes personal responsibility a core tenet of cybersecurity, along with education. People must stay current with threats and learn how to strengthen their online information. We must get used to changing passwords often and making them stronger; using multifactor authentications; learning how to recognize spam and then report it; and updating software. It's an undeniably tedious process, but necessary.

Everything is online nowadays, so every transaction is vulnerable. Every pay stub, every purchase, every site browsed is a target. Passwords are ripe for criminals to pick at. And the damage can be massive. Just look at Suffolk County. In 2022, a ransomware attack crippled the county's services for months. It cost at least $25 million and resulted from a failure to heed warnings and prepare.

And it’s not just school districts, banks, hospitals or large government agencies being targeted, often by offshore hacking shops that operate without fear of their government.

Cybersecurity is no longer a technology issue, it's a leadership issue. Government leaders must protect their systems and then also work to educate residents. New York State schools have a curriculum that teaches kids grades K-12 how to recognize an online threat and what to do. Universities and colleges offer degrees to train the next generation of cyber defenders. Government must continue to fund these programs while expanding awareness for all residents via social media.

Don't put off upgrading your digital security procedures. Be part of the solution and thwart cybercriminals before they strike. Don't just post that you too got the E-ZPass scam text — be active in preventing scammers from getting your number in the first place and know what to do when you do get that text everyone's talking about.