October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and this year the conversation looks different. With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, cybercriminals are finding new, more sophisticated ways to exploit vulnerabilities — targeting both businesses and families.
The New Face of Cyber Threats
AI isn’t just a tool for innovation — it’s also being used to make scams and attacks more convincing and more frequent. Deepfake audio and video can mimic trusted voices. Phishing emails generated by AI are harder to detect. Automated attacks can happen faster and at a larger scale than ever before.
For businesses, this means increased risks to sensitive data, financial transactions, and internal systems. For individuals, it can mean fraudulent calls that sound like a family member, fake invoices that look legitimate, or identity theft that happens quietly in the background.
What You Can Do
-
Strengthen your defenses: Implement multi-factor authentication, strong password policies, and software updates.
-
Train your team: Human error is still the most common entry point for cybercriminals.
-
Be skeptical: Question unexpected requests — even if they sound familiar.
-
Back up your data: A solid recovery plan can be the difference between inconvenience and disaster.
-
Review your coverage: A cyber liability policy can help protect against the financial fallout of an attack.
Trusted Resources
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offers valuable tips, toolkits, and training resources for both businesses and families to help you stay vigilant and prepared. Check out these resources: