Not a week or even a day goes by without a news story of Cyber Attacks. Why, even last week, the majority of the Eastern Seaboard experienced an internet outage at the hands of virtual criminals. Here are some staggering statistics related to Cyber Attacks in the U.S.

With numbers this high, there’s no wonder that the whole month of October is dedicated to National Cyber Security Awareness (NCSAM). Then there’s the rising threat in the health care industry. As a Health IT firm, we take these threats very seriously. Due diligence and following best practices isn’t a nice to have. In this day in age and in our business, it is a must have. At CNSI, we focus on:

Securing the Human: Teaching employees on how to be proactive, identify risks and take appropriate measures to prevent breaches before they happen.
Protecting All Assets: Encrypting data before it is stored and adding more layers of encryption for data in transit.
Implementing Endpoint Security: Utilizing the latest password protection and anti-malware policies and technologies, analyzing system behaviors to detect anomalies, and monitoring and blocking access to/from malicious internet targets.
Educating on Cyber Attack Trends: Sharing industry best practices, updates to company policies and immediate threats via newsletters and email, TV displays and corporate intranet.

In addition, we are formally participating in NCSAM with activities focused around the first bullet point— “Securing the Human”—the first and most important line of defense. We are sending out a weekly email, hosting a “Meet the CNSI Hackers” panel and rolling out a series of Cyber Security trainings over the next several months, with the first module already launched. The goal is to build awareness, provide resources and encourage an open dialogue around Cyber Security using engaging content and resources (like the SANS video below).

CNSI is proud to participate in NCSAM. But these efforts serve as an extension of our ongoing commitment to protect, report and manage against Cyber Security threats in order to protect our employees, clients and assets.

This blog entry was written by Amanda Moskowitz, CNSI’s Marketing Communications Manager. She writes about industry trends, health care policy, and essentially anything innovative. Amanda brings with her nearly a decade of private, government, and non-profit experience and two years performing stand-up comedy, which allows her to infuse both humility and humor into her writing. She believes that whatever the technology, there will always be a need to share the words written in our mind. Feel free to contact Amanda at Amanda.Moskowitz@cns-inc.com.