Tips to protect your municipality during Cyber Security Awareness Month

October is Cyber Security Awareness month, and these current times require a continuous view of our policies, procedures as well as insights on how this risk is changing. This month is a great opportunity to have discussions with staff and leadership about the role we all play in protecting our IT infrastructure as well as the information we are entrusted with.

With disruptions to our operations such as the need to work from home due to COVID, cyber criminals have shifted their efforts to home-based routers, as well as municipal staff by using fake Microsoft Office 365 phishing campaigns. These campaigns have become much more sophisticated to have the look and feel of an actual corporate email. Clues like poor spelling and grammar, as well as outdated copyright dates, have been modernized to look like the email was produced by a corporate marketing team.

“The best way to ensure your organization is protected is to make sure there is a good system for educating staff, managing systems and application patches, and that people have the right permissions for the type of work they do as a start,” advises Shaun Guthrie, AUMA’s Senior Director of IT. “Everyone needs to do their part to support the policies, procedure and IT infrastructure that protects our systems. No matter how many bells and whistles your IT security program has, it is still vulnerable to a person not following good practice.”

Keep an eye out in our AUMA Digest and social media feeds this month for information you can share with your teams to help support awareness, discussions, and good practices.

If you believe your organization may have suffered a breach, or you would like to inquire about cyber security insurance coverage, call 310-AUMA to speak to a member of our Claims or Insurance team. Also, stay tuned for other exciting cyber related announcements to come.