NCSAM is over, shall we stop teaching

Well, NCSAM is over, and that doesn’t mean we have to stop learning. There’s always something to learn, especially with cyber security. Lastpass, the last password you’ll ever need, has a blog post entitled NCSAM Wrap-Up & Planning for Next Year but why stop there?

Here are some questions Lastpass asks.

  • Did your organization have goals for NCSAM this year?  
  • What new things did you try, or what programs did you continue from previous years?  
  • What type of feedback did you receive?  
  • What would you like to try next year? 
  • What results are you looking to accomplish with your cybersecurity initiatives? 

These are great questions. I think in regards to item 4’s question, I’m trying to teach year around by talking about experiences and things that I’ve read or experienced in life that have happened to me. By talking about what I’ve done after the fact, I can show how proactive I’ve been to the situation at hand. My initiatives for next year is to do the same all year long. This I think should not be a once a month thing. By spreading it all year round, we can always learn, so we can try to prevent the next castrophy.

I’ve received mixed feedback when talking about things. Some have indicated that we’re pretty much screwed anyway, things get on the OS, and it’ll either burn the OS, or the OS will be slow. No matter what we do, we can’t stop the worst of them, they’ll get in regardless. Others like the ideas of what I’m doing, and it can turn in to a discussion on the chat line. Still others, don’t quite comprehend the aspect of how bad it is, and skip it because it can get technical. It just depends, although I try not to be technical about it.

I don’t have goals for the year and I o not have money for programs to implement. I’d love to be involved in phishing simulations because we can always learn so we don’t make a mistake to criple our devices. Its too bad that these types of programs are expensive so people who use a computer but don’t make a lot of money can’t participate in such a program.

I run MENVI and I’m always asked questions by one of my coleagues about something he’s seen. I tell him whats up, and I also send him some of the major articles I find through my RSS feeds. He sends them off to people who need to know.

I believe this is very important year around, not just once a month. By sharing information, we can all participate in reading and understanding what other businesses are going through and can do our best not to fall victim within the net of problems.

Lastpass has ideas for next year including webinars, educating your customers and clients, employee training, share material, and attending a cybersecurity event. I talked about two webinars I’ve attended from Trend Micro and I really need to listen to the last one fully because I’ve missed sone parts of it.

There is more including how they mention inspiring the next generation to get involved by talking about the girl scouts teaming up with a company. Theres plenty of more to read, so take a look around, and lets start making that difference!

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