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Army Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

What is it?

The Army Cybersecurity Awareness Month, is an annual campaign, held in October, to increase awareness of organizational cybersecurity practices and training that will help the Army improve its overall security posture.

This year’s Awareness Month theme is Lethal Keystrokes, leading off with the question, “Were your keystrokes lethal today?” The theme emphasizes individual responsibility for protecting the network and Army against cybersecurity threats that endanger our Soldiers, compromise operations and increase cost significantly in time and resources to remediate.

What has the Army done?

In support of Army Cybersecurity Awareness Month, commanders at all levels have been directed to conduct cybersecurity awareness activities based on their fiscal year 2013/2014 Information Assurance (IA) Self-Assessments. Commands will address these activities and improved security practices in the following phases:

  • – Phase 1: Leader Awareness
  • – Phase 2: Individual Awareness
  • – Phase 3: Collective Training
  • – Phase 4: Home/Family Cybersecurity Practices

By Nov. 14, organizations will complete an after-action-review of their activities conducted for the month. Organizations will also complete an Army survey to capture feedback on the value, benefits and continued improvements for Army cybersecurity awareness.

Resources for each phase of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, including the Army survey, are available on the Army’s Information Assurance One-Stop Shop.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

To continue this effort, the Army will hold an annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Commands will complete their yearly assessments, conduct mandatory annual IA training, ensure systems are Federal Information Security Management Act compliant and continually apply security updates and patches as required.

Throughout the year, commands can continue to access the IA One-Stop Shop for updated cybersecurity information and resources.

Why is this important to the Army?

Cyber attacks threaten the Army network and its information every day, putting our operations and people at risk. Strengthening Army cybersecurity is critical to all Army warfighting operations and business functions. Likewise, it is imperative for the Army to make certain that Soldiers, civilians and contractors are responsible for daily practices that protect information and IT capabilities.

Resources:

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