European Cyber Security Month 2022

European Cyber Security Month (ECSM) (ECSM) is coordinated by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and takes place each year during the month of October. ENISA’s press release for European Cyber Security Month can be found here:

The aim of Cyber Security Month is to raise awareness of cybersecurity threats, promote cyber security among citizens and organisations; and provide resources to protect themselves online, through education and sharing of good practices.

The campaign is supported across Europe by Member States, which organise numerous activities including conferences, workshops and webinars. They also utilise awareness-raising material on social media to encourage good practices in relation to cyber security and cyber hygiene. During October, the NCSC will share content from ENISA on two themes – ‘phishing’ and ‘ransomware’.

Over the course of the month, the NCSC will be tweeting links from @ncsc_gov_ie to resources, to raise awareness about the cyber security topics.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will be working alongside our colleagues in the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) in order to promote these themes of phishing and ransomware.

Phishing

Phishing is a type of fraudulent activity carried out by cyber criminals whereby they send disguised e-mails to people or organisations purporting to be from reputable sources to influence the reader to click on links to dodgy websites or to give sensitive information away such as bank details, account passwords or credit card information.

These emails may look genuine and the sender will usually claim to be a person or organisation that you are familiar with to make it easier for them to gain your trust.

Please find awareness raising material on phishing here.

Ransomware

Ransomware is malware designed to encrypt files on a device, rendering files and the systems that rely on them unusable. Ransomware operators are not just focused on critical infrastructure, attacks can affect all organisations, both large and small. It is important for the management and IT staff of all organisations to understand the ransomware attack chain, and importantly how you can #BreakTheChain.

Please find awareness raising material on ransomware here.

Additional Resources

The Cyber Security Month website is available at the following link: https://www.cybersecuritymonth.eu and their Twitter handle is @CyberSecMonth.

You can also find more information on An Garda Siochana's Twitter feed @gardainfo. and on the GNCCB webpage

GNCCB

The Bureau is the national Garda unit tasked with the forensic examination of computer media seized during the course of any criminal investigations.

The unit also conducts investigations into cyber dependent crime which are significant or complex in nature network intrusions, data interference and attacks on websites belonging to Government departments, institutions and corporate entities.

Cyber Ireland Conference

The NCSC will also take part in Cyber Ireland’s National Conference on the 5 October. ‘The NCSC will be hosting the first session of the Cyber Ireland National Conference on Enhancing Resilience in an Uncertain World on October 05th’ More information on the conference can be found here.The Cyber Ireland National Conference (CINC) will provide a unique opportunity to bring together the cyber security community to showcase the best of our cluster, to discuss cyber security challenges facing industry and our country and to highlight innovative solutions from Ireland and internationally.