McAuliffe recognizes National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Governor Terry McAuliffe recognized October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, joining with the nationwide initiative to educate and engage public and private sector stakeholders and citizens on cybersecurity issues through a variety of communications and outreach activities being held across the country.

“With the development of new technologies comes the added responsibility to ensure the safety and security of our data. Because technology touches every part of our citizens’ daily lives, cybersecurity must be an essential part of our public safety mission to protect our agencies, communities and critical infrastructure from domestic and foreign cyberattacks,” said Governor McAuliffe. “As Chairman of the National Governors Association, I launched Meet the Threat: States Confront the Cyber Challenge, a nationwide initiative to champion an issue that I believe to be of the highest importance to all 50 states. We recognize October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month and reaffirm our commitment to invest in cybersecurity as we build a new Virginia economy.”

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month underscores the necessity of raising awareness about cybersecurity and providing individuals and businesses with the resources needed to stay safe online, as well as increasing resiliency in the event of a cyberattack in Virginia and across the nation.

Throughout National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, citizens and stakeholders are urged to help create a safer and more secure cyber environment by taking steps to keep themselves, their identities and their information safe online including:

• Setting strong, unique passwords
• Keeping operating systems, browsers and other applications updated
• Using only well-known, reputable sites when shopping online. Ensure sites are secure by looking for “https” in the address bar.

“With more than 50 billion devices projected to be connected to the internet by 2020, it is imperative that each individual take steps to mitigate the chance of being compromised,” said Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson.

For more information about cybersecurity in Virginia, please visit www.cyberva.virginia.gov.

To view the official proclamation declaring Cybersecurity Awareness Month, click here.