Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2026: The Habits That Make a Difference

Gary Perkins, Chief Information Security Officer

Key Takeaways

• AI can make phishing, impersonation, and other scams more convincing. Verify unexpected requests through a trusted channel, especially when they involve money, credentials, or access. 
• Protect important accounts with unique passwords, a password manager, and multi-factor authentication. Never approve an authentication request you did not initiate. 
• Keep devices and applications current, and replace technology when the manufacturer no longer supports it. 
• Limit the information you share publicly, regularly review access to important accounts and cloud services, and report suspicious activity quickly. 

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a good time to review the everyday habits that protect our accounts, devices, information, and organizations. Attackers may have new tools, including AI, but many successful attacks still depend on familiar mistakes such as clicking a malicious link, reusing a password, approving an unexpected login request, sharing sensitive information, or putting off an important update. 

The Cyber Threats We Face in 2026

• Phishing and social engineering remain among the most common. Attackers use email, text messages, social media, collaboration platforms, phone calls, and fake websites to convince people to click links, open files, reveal information, send money, or provide access. 
• Credential and account attacks target passwords, authentication tokens, sessions, and account recovery processes. Attackers may also test credentials stolen from one service against other accounts.                
• AI-powered scams and deepfakes make impersonation more convincing. Do not treat a familiar writing style, realistic voice, convincing image, or video as proof that someone is who they claim to be. 
• Ransomware and malware continue to affect organizations of every size. Modern ransomware attacks can involve data theft and extortion in addition to encryption. 
• Software vulnerabilities provide attackers with opportunities to compromise devices, browsers, applications, network equipment, and cloud infrastructure.  

Be Suspicious of the Unexpected

Social engineering often relies on urgency. An attacker may claim that an account will be disabled, an invoice must be paid immediately, a package cannot be delivered, a password has expired, or an executive needs something urgently. 

Be cautious when a message asks you to: 

• Open an unexpected attachment or link or scan a QR code 
• Provide a password, authentication code, or sensitive information 
• Approve an unexpected login or MFA request 
• Change banking or payment information 
• Purchase gift cards or transfer money 
• Install software or provide remote access 
• Bypass a normal business process because something is “urgent” 

When something feels unusual, verify the request another way. If someone emails asking for a financial transaction, for example, call them at a number you already know rather than one provided in the message. 

AI-generated voices, images, messages, and videos make that verification even more important. Seeing or hearing someone is no longer enough to confirm a sensitive request. 

Protect Your Accounts

Use long, unique passwords for important accounts and store them in a reputable password manager. Reusing passwords creates unnecessary risk because a breach involving one service can expose accounts elsewhere. 

Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible, particularly for email, financial accounts, cloud services, social media, and work accounts. Attackers may still try to steal authentication codes, prompt users to approve fraudulent login requests, or use phishing sites to steal authenticated sessions. Never approve an authentication request you did not initiate. 

Keep Everything Updated

Software updates frequently include security fixes, not just new features. Keep operating systems, phones, tablets, applications, browsers, browser extensions, and security software current, and enable automatic updates where practical. 

Do not overlook home routers, smart devices, network equipment, and other technology that may remain in use for years. If the manufacturer no longer supports a device or application, consider replacing it because future vulnerabilities may not receive security fixes. 

Know What Information Matters Most

Start by identifying the information that would cause the most harm if someone exposed, changed, destroyed, or made it unavailable. 

For an individual, that may include financial information, tax records, identity documents, medical information, passwords, private communications, and personal photographs. 

For a business, critical information may include customer and employee data, intellectual property, financial records, contracts, credentials, backups, and information needed to operate. 

Some information requires more protection than others. Know where your most important information lives, who can access it, how you protect it, and whether you maintain appropriate backups.  

Watch What You Share Online

Social media can reveal more than people realize. Job titles, coworkers, travel plans, birthdays, family members, office locations, conference attendance, and photographs can all help an attacker understand who you are and who you trust. 

Review the privacy and security settings on your social accounts, be selective about connection requests, and consider what information anyone can see publicly. 

Attackers also research employees and organizations before targeting them. Information about reporting structures, suppliers, technologies, projects, and executives can help them build more convincing attacks.

Secure Your Phone

For many people, a smartphone is one of their most sensitive devices, with access to email, messages, photographs, authentication apps, financial accounts, cloud services, and password resets. 

Protect it with a strong PIN or biometric authentication, keep the operating system and applications current, install applications only from trusted sources, and review the permissions they request. Enable device tracking and remote wipe capabilities where available. 

Treat QR codes like links. Attackers can use them to direct you to malicious websites. 

Use Public WiFi Carefully

Be cautious when using networks you do not control. Confirm that you are connecting to the correct network, particularly in airports, hotels, restaurants, and conference venues. 

Do not ignore browser security warnings or install certificates or applications simply because a network prompts you to. Use encrypted websites and trusted applications. A reputable VPN may provide additional protection when accessing sensitive business resources, and a mobile hotspot can be a useful alternative when you are unsure about a public network. 

Protect Cloud Services and Online Accounts

Use strong authentication for important cloud accounts and regularly review the devices, applications, and third parties that can access them. Remove access you no longer need, and pay attention to unexpected login notifications or changes to account recovery settings. 

Organizations should also follow the principle of least privilege by giving people only the access they need to perform their jobs and adjusting that access when roles change. A compromised cloud account may expose far more than email, including files, conversations, contacts, applications, and connected systems. 

If You Think You’ve Been Hacked

If you believe someone has compromised an account or device, act quickly. 

For a personal account, change the password from a trusted device, terminate active sessions where possible, review MFA and recovery settings, and check for unfamiliar devices or account changes. If the incident may involve financial information, contact the appropriate financial institution. 

For a work account or device, contact your IT or security team immediately and follow your organization’s incident reporting process. Do not try to investigate a serious workplace incident yourself. Deleting files, wiping a system, or making major configuration changes can destroy evidence and make an investigation more difficult. 

It is better to report something that turns out to be harmless than to let a real compromise continue unnoticed. 

How Employees Protect an Organization

Employees often notice things security tools may miss, such as an unusual request from a colleague, an unexpected MFA prompt, a strange login notification, a suspicious invoice, or a change that does not fit normal business processes. 

They also reduce risk by following established processes, protecting credentials, using approved applications and services, securing their devices, handling sensitive information appropriately, and reporting concerns quickly. Organizations should make that reporting process clear and easy to use.

Your Cybersecurity Awareness Month Checklist

☐ Use unique passwords, a password manager, and MFA for important accounts 

☐ Keep computers, phones, applications, browsers, and other devices updated 

☐ Verify unusual or urgent requests before taking action 

☐ Be cautious with links, attachments, QR codes, and unexpected files 

☐ Know which information and systems matter most and maintain appropriate backups 

☐ Limit what you share publicly and review social media privacy settings 

☐ Review cloud accounts, connected applications, active sessions, and access 

☐ Report suspicious activity quickly 

Make Security a Year-Round Habit

Cybersecurity Awareness Month brings extra attention to these habits, but they matter throughout the year. 

Learn more about CISO Global’s Security Awareness Training or contact us to speak with our team.