Pumpkin spice latte and a side dish for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

At the risk of not being considered one of the cool kids who roll their eyes at the thought of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Pondurance is an NCSAM “champion” and we’re going to use this month to spread what we hope to be helpful reminders of cybersecurity best practices for businesses and individuals. You know why? Because we all still need reminders of what to be skeptical about – is it a real email? Was this urgent message really from my CEO? Is this beautiful stranger on Facebook really interested in me? And we still need reminders to protect important personal and financial information (among other things) with multi-factor authentication (MFA) and to update the software on our devices. You get the essentials.

Not a day goes by that I don’t get scam robocalls on my cell phone. I lost count of car warranty recalls, Social Security compromise calls, and the many other ridiculous calls, offers, and threats. Email is the same – phishing is rampant, and I’m grateful to be in a company that taught me to examine a message to determine if it’s real or fake. Sometimes the mark of a phishing email impersonating FedEx, the USPS, my bank, PayPal, or some other real service is so authentic that I remember why so many people fall in love with them.