The month of October was declared Cybersecurity Awareness Month in 2004 by the President of the United States and Congress. It was an effort to bring awareness to the increasing online threats to cybersecurity and to help individuals and institutions protect themselves from these threats and attacks.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) lead a collaborative effort to increase cybersecurity awareness on both the national and international fronts.

This year, the White House's declarations of the Cybersecurity Month, encourages “all Americans to increase their cybersecurity at home, at work, and in schools.”
Why is This Important?
A threat to cybersecurity can start as a one-person problem and quickly become a community problem, a national problem or an international problem due to our interconnectivity.
The year 2020 saw a significant increase in cybersecurity attacks across the board on individuals, companies and government entities. According to Forbes, all records of data lost and cyberattacks were broken that year. The FBI "2020 Internet Crime Report" informed of an increase in complaints of suspected internet crime from 467,361 in 2019 to 791,790 in 2020 with reported losses exceeding $4.2 billion.
According to Accenture's "State of Cybersecurity Resilience 2021" report, cybersecurity attacks increased from 2020 to 2021 by 31 percent. Fast forward 2022, Statista’s statistics show continues increase in the numbers of breaches and cybercrimes since 2005 to the first half of 2022.
Cisco’s "2022 Cybersecurity Almanac" expects global cybercrime costs to grow by 15 percent per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.
According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, CEO and boards rank cybersecurity as their greatest concern.
Simply Put, Cybersecurity Risk is Business Risk.
The increasing threats and sophistication of attacks have necessitated the need for proactive measures. Managing cyber risk can no longer be a simple compliance checkbox item.
Cybersecurity risk can result in extensive financial loss, destruction of critical infrastructure, loss of critical data and intellectual property, damage to a company’s reputation and loss of consumers’ confidence, and potential breaches of various government regulatory and compliance rules.
Can Cybersecurity Risk be Prevented?
While you may not be able to prevent all threats or attacks, you are legally required to act reasonably and take necessary measures to address a threat. Failure to do this can result in you violating compliance with laws and regulations governing cybersecurity and privacy.
It is never too late to take proactive actions to prevent and protect against cyberattacks or minimize the impact on you and your business. You can start by;
Bringing awareness to the problem and identifying your potential vulnerabilities.
Encouraging everyone to be part of the solution. Anyone who uses an electronic device to access the company’s systems has the potential to be part of the problem or part of the solution.
Enhancing system protection and building resiliency in the operations.
Developing a cybersecurity program and integrating it into your business continuity and disaster recovery programs.
Training employees and your household to practice cyber hygiene. Simple knowledge of how to identify potential threats like a phishing email, a fake URL, or an insecure URL, etc. can go a long way to prevent an insider breach.
Practicing cyber hygiene can also be in the form of,
i. Enabling multi-factor authentication on all access points to systems and critical accounts.
ii. Using strong passwords and password keepers.
iii. Updating software to enable updates of new security patches.
iv. Always taking precautions and thinking twice before clicking on links or opening emails from unknown or suspicious addresses.
While these are useful suggestions, what you do at home or in your business can go a long way to preventing or minimizing the chances of a cyberattack breaching your securities and becoming successful.
Although October is an awareness month, this should be an ongoing endeavor and not a onetime fix. Experts have indicated that not all cybersecurity risks can be prevented or controlled. With such possibilities, Cyber insurance can be one of your last resorts to preventing and minimizing the financial damage you may incur due to cyberattacks.
Key Takeaways
As you practice your Cybersecurity Awareness this year, the 4 key takeaways from this article should be, it is not too late to:
(1) became aware of your potential risks to cybersecurity breaches,
(2) reach out to specialists to gain knowledge on prevention and protection, and enhance your cybersecurity,
(3) train your employees and household on cyber hygiene, and
(4) secure a cyber risk insurance policy,
We can help with the latter, number 4.
At Axios Risk Solutions, LLC., we help small and medium-sized enterprises, families and individuals minimize and manage their business risks through tailored risk management strategies and protect their business and assets through a variety of insurance solutions in the market. To request a quote or speak to a broker, call us at (404) 480 0272.
Author: Sandra Owusu-Fianko
Sandra Owusu-Fianko is the Principal and Risk Advisor at Axios Risk Solutions, LLC. She has an extensive experience in the insurance industry and a MS degree in Enterprise Risk Manage0ment. She is passionate about finding appropriate risk management and insurance solutions for her clients.