CyberSecurity Awareness Month is over: Was it a success?

We can only help those that "swim towards us."

For two months I have been doing a daily podcast called the CyBUr Smart Morning News Update (available at all your favorite podcast providers). It is sort of like a Headline news format where I largely highlight key cyber news events of the day. As Cybersecurity Awareness Month concludes I figured I’d take a look at if it was a success here in 2023. (Spoiler alert: Based on the number of news stories each day, I’d say probably not.)

Most of my social media presence is on Linkedin and I follow a LOT of, what could be described as cybersecurity influencers and it seemed like this year’s edition was a lot more low-key. It started off fairly strong (my pessimism notwithstanding) but the enthusiasm seemed to fall off a cliff after about 2 weeks. I don’t fault anyone for this, it is truly human nature. We start off strong on community-driven events, but our attention span is now so disparate that it is hard to stay consistent on any topic very long.

This is unfortunate because cybersecurity awareness is important in this evolving cyber-driven world. Threat actors are constantly changing tactics, changing alliances, and many are covert enough that only those of us who spend hours scouring cyber intelligence and news sources know who they are and how they operate. Add to that the constant influx of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) from small, medium, and large vendors and a single month of awareness is, at this point, largely just an exercise in marketing (see my post at the beginning of this month). This is unfortunate because a better method is needed.

For years I, and others, have advocated for continual awareness training, or at a minimum, a sustained effort at cyber education both in the workplace and at home, but the “you can lead a horse to water” proverb seems pretty apt here. There are some good cybersecurity influencers and SMEs efforting in this space (I hope to be one some day), but it is a tough slog.

The only solution I really have here is we need to keep plugging forward. I once heard a parable that went something like this:

“There was a boat that capsized and hundreds of people were in the water that needed saving. A helicopter flew to rescue people, but it was too small to save everyone at the same time. It hovered about 30 yards away from the 100s of people in the water. About a dozen swam toward the helicopter and the rest swam in the other direction, away from the helicopter. The rescuers in the helicopter could only save those who swam towards it.”

We can talk all day about cybersecurity news, and cyber intelligence, we can help people understand the threats targeting them, but at the end of the day, we can only help those swimming towards us.

I, for one, will keep helping those swimming towards me regardless of the month. I hope you’ll do the same.

Now it’s on to “No shave November!” Heaven help us all!