Get Involved in SIA’s Cybersecurity Initiatives This National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The National Cyber Security Alliance has recognized this month every year since 2003 to bring awareness to the challenges of cybersecurity and to ensure that every individual stays safe and secure online. This year, specific themes for the month include understanding cybersecurity in the connected home, educating for a career in cybersecurity, cybersecurity in the workplace and safeguarding critical infrastructure.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) supports National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and encourages members to follow the tenets of responsible connectivity year-round. Specifically, we have developed and partnered with other organizations to provide access to resources that help SIA members incorporate these themes into their overall cybersecurity postures.

Whether your company is a manufacturer or developer of security solutions, a systems integrator or a firm providing services to the security industry, we know you’re grappling with questions of cybersecurity.

From launching Cyber:Secured Forum to issuing continuous new guidance from our Cybersecurity Advisory Board and Data Privacy Advisory Board, SIA is creating services to meet your needs. To further assist you, we want you to be involved in all of our cyber initiatives.

• Cyber:Secured Forum – The next Cyber:Secured Forum – a cybersecurity educational summit focusing on integrated systems – will be held July 29-31, 2019, at the Westin Dallas Park Central in Dallas, Texas. This event – hosted by ISC Security Events, PSA Security Network and SIA, will connect IT and physical security leaders to examine and share information on cyber hardening, cyber postures, cybersecurity tools and resources and business liabilities and opportunities.
• SIA Cyber Office Hours – In these monthly webinars, SIA members’ questions are answered by an experienced cybersecurity researcher.
• Beginner Guide to Product and System Hardening – Get basic safeguards to help protect security products, systems and services against failure from cyberattacks.
• Recommendations for Initiating an Enterprise Cybersecurity Solution – SIA’s recommendations are a starting point for developing a comprehensive enterprise cyber risk strategy.
• SIA Cyber Onboarding Guide for Employees – These guidelines for employers and staff will help you reduce cyber vulnerability in your onboarding process.
• An Information Security Overview – This resource provides key concepts and mechanisms to create cybersecurity “defense in depth.”
• GDPR and the Security Industry – If your company deals with European individuals in any other country, it’s critical to ensure that you’re compliant with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to avoid penalties. This page shares helpful resources on what GDPR means for security companies, including an explainer video, fact sheets and privacy profile references.
• Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS)  – SIA is proud to be a strategic partner of the WiCyS 2019 Conference, scheduled for March 29-30 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. WiCyS is a nonprofit dedicated to the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in cybersecurity.
• 2018 WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study – SIA is partnering with the Wall Street Journal and its third-party research firm, ESI ThoughtLab, on a groundbreaking research project that shares benchmarking data and analysis from executives in various customer-facing sectors about how they invest to achieve higher levels of cybersecurity readiness.

Find more cybersecurity content on SIA’s website, and learn more about National Cybersecurity Awareness Month here.