See yourself in cyber: Highlights from Cybersecurity Awareness Month

As Cybersecurity Awareness Month comes to a close, we want to share some of the work we’ve done and made available to you throughout October. Over the last four weeks, we have shared insights and resources aligned with this year’s theme—”See Yourself in Cyber”—to help advance awareness training, and inspire people to join the rapidly growing security industry. Here are a few highlights.

Roundtable with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): Amazon Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt hosted CISA director Jen Easterly in Seattle for a roundtable with leaders across higher education, state and local government, and private industry to discuss ways to develop the cybersecurity workforce through skills training, partnerships between government and industry, and creating pathways to cybersecurity careers.

How AWS, Cisco, Netflix & SAP Are Approaching Cybersecurity Awareness Month. I joined Cisco Chief Security and Trust Officer Brad Arkin, Netflix Head of Cloud Security Srinath Kuruvardi, and SAP Chief Trust Officer Elena Kvochko to describe how AWS, Cisco, Netflix, and SAP are instilling strong cybersecurity training and practices within our organizations, with the goal of inspiring other organizations to do the same.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2022 Briefing. Amazon Security Director Jenny Brinkley—who leads Amazon’s internal and external awareness training activities—participated in a Cybersecurity Awareness Month panel discussion hosted by the National Cybersecurity Alliance. Jenny met with executives from KnowBe4, Google, NortonLifeLock, and Dell and chatted about how the cybersecurity landscape has changed over the past few years, and how those changes have impacted the perception of security as a part of daily life.

Making Cybersecurity Relevant for Consumers: The Case for Personal Agency. In addition to the briefing, Jenny spoke to the National Cybersecurity Alliance about staying safe online. She highlighted simple steps that everyone can take to be safer online, including staying consistent on software updates for connected devices, using strong passwords, activating multi-factor authentication (MFA) on accounts when possible, and being on the lookout for phishing attempts.

National Cybersecurity Alliance and Nasdaq Cybersecurity Summit. Jenny and Amazon Head of Global Security Training Jyllian Clarke also joined the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Nasdaq, and public and private sector security leaders in New York City for a cybersecurity summit and got to ring the opening bell.

Resources

AWS offers free Cybersecurity Awareness Training to individuals and businesses around the world, and we’re providing complimentary MFA security keys to AWS account owners in the United States. More than 40 security-focused courses are available through AWS Skill Builder, ranging from foundational to advanced content. By subscribing to AWS Skill Builder, you gain access to security-related interactive challenges with AWS Jam, which guides you through solving real-world problems.

Additionally, Amazon and the National Cybersecurity Alliance launched a cybersecurity awareness campaign called Protect & Connect. The campaign includes a public service announcement featuring Prime Video actor Michael B. Jordan and actress-producer Tessa Thompson as “internet bodyguards,” as well as a Protect & Connect microsite for consumers, featuring additional videos on topics such as MFA and how to identify and avoid phishing attempts.

Humanizing security

Cybersecurity can seem like a complex subject but ultimately, it’s all about people. Most of today’s threats need people to activate them, so you need to train people to develop intuition, which is something that can’t be automated. By meeting employees where they are with an engaging approach to awareness training that moves security to the forefront of everything they do, you can promote positive behavioral change, and start building a security-first culture.

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