Cybersecurity Awareness Month – 2026
October is celebrated as the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Starting this year, the new theme of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “Securing the Next 250″, which recognizes the nation’s 250th anniversary and focuses on building a secure digital future for America’s next era. The main message this year revolves around four key cybersecurity best practices:
- Understanding the benefits of using a strong password, a password manager and dispelling existing myths around password manager security and ease of use.
- Turning on multifactor authentication on personal devices and business networks.
- Recognizing and reporting phishing – still one of the primary threat actions used by cybercriminals today.
- Installing updates on a regular basis and turning on automated updates.
Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign @Mount
To celebrate this year’s cybersecurity awareness month on-campus, the Center for Cybersecurity@Mount have several activities lined up for you including:
Cybersecurity Awareness training and learning resources for faculty, staff, students and external community
(Click here to access the Training and Learning resource page)
On-campus Cybersecurity Awareness booths run by MSMC cybersecurity majors
Panel Discussion
Title: A Day in the Life of a Cybersecurity Professional
Panelist:
Jack Santaroni, Senior Cybersecurity Consultant, Unit 42 by Palo Alto Networks
Jonah Goverman, Senior Offensive Security Consultant, Unit 42 by Palo Alto Networks
Sean Jennings, Cybersecurity Analyst, Central Hudson
Open to current students and Alumni
When: Thursday, October 28 at 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Mount Saint Mary College
Hosted by MSMC Center for Academic & Career Services