The Fraudian Slip Podcast - Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024

Show Transcript

Welcome to the Fraudian Slip, the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) podcast, where we talk about all things identity compromise, crime and fraud that impact people and businesses. Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, SoundCloud, Audible and Amazon now. This month’s episode discusses Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA).

Each year, there are certain signs that Fall has arrived. Pumpkin spice lattes show up at Starbucks, the World Series arrives without the New York Mets or Washington Nationals and October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Even amidst large-scale data breaches and cyberattacks, Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 reminds everyone that there are simple, effective ways to keep yourself safe online, protect your personal data and ultimately help secure our world.

Here to talk about Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 is the Executive Director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Lisa Plaggemier, and the ITRC’s CEO, Eva Velasquez. 

We talked with Lisa Plaggemier about the following:

• We’ve gone from Cybersecurity Awareness Day to Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Give us the history of the initiative. Also, what’s been the impact of having a day, a week, a month dedicated to cybersecurity?
• Attacks are up; breaches are up; impacts are more severe. Artificial intelligence makes it easy for bad actors with no special technical skills to get into the game. Where are the opportunities for improvement?
• The reality is that literally billions of transactions a day are completed safely without any interruption by a cybercriminal. That means the Defenders are successful far more often than the Attackers – but that’s not the popular impression. Companies hate to talk about their security. However, would it help consumers have more confidence and trust in organizations if they talked more about their successes? 
• There are no silver bullets in cybersecurity. We like to talk about defense in depth and concepts like Zero Trust. With that said, every now and then, there is a product that comes along that is a game changer. Passkeys are a long-time coming, but they are finally being deployed as a replacement for passwords. What are passkeys and their benefits, and are other tools on the way to help protect consumers and businesses?

We talked with Eva Velasquez about the following:

• We have some data we’ll share in our next impact report due to be published in the last week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024. It shows consumers are taking more personal responsibility for protecting their information (but they still have some bad habits). What do you see as the benefits of Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
• You’ve said that product changes create opportunities for fraud because consumers don’t always know about or understand what’s changed. Talk about that.
• The reality is that literally billions of transactions a day are completed safely without any interruption by a cybercriminal. That means the Defenders are successful far more often than the Attackers – but that’s not the popular impression. Companies hate to talk about their security. However, would it help consumers have more confidence and trust in organizations if they talked more about their successes? 
• Our new data shows people are embracing passkeys far faster than they have multifactor authentication (MFA) and password managers. Why do you think that is? What other tools, processes and habits do we need to consider to improve our personal data protection?

For more information on Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 or the NCA, visit www.staysafeonline.org.

Contact the ITRC

If you think you have been the victim of an identity crime or want to avoid becoming a victim, you can speak with an expert advisor on the phone or via text (888.400.5530), chat live on the web or send us an email during our normal business hours (6 a.m.-5 p.m. PST Monday-Friday). Just visit www.idtheftcenter.org to get started.

We will return next week with a new episode of our sister podcast, the Weekly Breach Breakdown, and next month with another episode of the Fraudian Slip.