{"id":6857,"date":"2026-10-12T19:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T19:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pax8.com\/blog\/?p=6857"},"modified":"2026-10-14T16:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:44:41","slug":"celebrate-cybersecurity-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pax8.com\/blog\/celebrate-cybersecurity-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways You Can Celebrate Cybersecurity Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month? (If you didn\u2019t, now you do.) It\u2019s a time to look at your own organization, look at your clients and look deep into your soul to ensure you\u2019re following best practices for cybersecurity<\/a>. Let\u2019s dive into five business-building, risk-demolishing ways you can observe Cybersecurity Awareness Month.<\/p>\n

What Is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Why Is It So Important?<\/h2>\n

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month<\/a>, or NCSAM if you want to be cool and acronym everything, is a joint effort by U.S. Department of Homeland Security and partners like the National Cyber Security Alliance. It started in 2004 and takes place every October, helping draw attention to the changing cybersecurity landscape amid developments like cloud migration and the emergence of AI. Its purpose is to make sure we\u2019re all doing what we can to practice good cybersecurity hygiene.<\/p>\n

Strong cybersecurity is important for everyone, but it\u2019s particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). In fact, 94%<\/a> of SMB leaders say they\u2019re aware of cybersecurity threats, but most still don\u2019t have adequate tooling or provide enough training. SMBs with fewer than 1,000 employees account for an estimated 46%<\/a> of all cyber attacks, and the average loss from a successful breach is $254,000<\/a>, which is enough to sink many SMBs in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n

The emphasis of NCSAM is on awareness. But, as a managed service provider (MSP) or managed intelligence provider (MIP), you should also be focused on action. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve collected five ways you can hit both awareness and effort, along with some ways to make it a bit more fun for you and your clients.<\/p>\n

1. Enforce MFA Everywhere<\/h2>\n

Multifactor authentication (MFA)<\/a>, or requiring two or more forms of identification before letting a user log in, is the gold standard for securing accounts. But is it being enforced in-house and at every client?<\/p>\n

Follow CIS’ guidelines<\/a> and audit every single account, login and tool across all of your clients and at your own organization. Find where MFA may be missing, like in VPNs or third-party platforms, and choose stronger methods of identification (such as authenticator apps or hardware keys over SMS texts) where possible.<\/p>\n

Enforcing MFA requires you to be a bit of a hall monitor, so make sure your clients understand the stakes of stolen credentials and just how common phishing is, accounting for 15%<\/a> of successful data breaches. Identify key accounts to begin enforcing, engage your clients about it and set a deadline that can be reached all around.<\/p>\n

Fun idea:<\/strong> Run an MFA drive with your clients to see who can get closest to 100% adoption of MFA across MFA-capable accounts. (You\u2019ll want to set exceptions for legacy systems and third-party tools that don\u2019t support MFA, for example.) Reward your client who gets closest to 100% with a shoutout on social media, early access to a new feature or tool, or a personalized benchmark report against others in their industry. Since security is a two-way street, it helps to have creative ways to get clients more involved and interested in ways to boost their cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

2. Cover All of Your Bases with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)<\/h2>\n

If you haven\u2019t yet installed EDR<\/a> for your clients, now is a great time to think about it. EDR uses automation to protect your clients\u2019 endpoints against threats that can get past antivirus, firewalls and other traditional security software.<\/p>\n

For MSPs and MIPs, it helps you do your job more efficiently. EDR can reduce risk by blocking techniques used in 84%<\/a> of severe cyber attacks, making it more effective than simple point solutions.<\/p>\n

You can purchase EDR in the Pax8 Marketplace<\/a> and then include EDR services as a more advanced version of your cybersecurity offerings. You can also upgrade to managed detection and response (MDR), which further automates coverage so your team can focus on other priorities, or extended detection and response (XDR), which covers more than just endpoints and includes vectors such as network switches. Read all about the differences between EDR, MDR and XDR here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fun idea:<\/strong> If you have a client newsletter, incorporate a \u201ccyber threat of the month\u201d component. Think of it like a \u201cWanted\u201d poster, with an anonymized account of what the threat was and how your techs handled it. Keep things relatively light and informative and not sales-forward \u2014 you want to show the value you provide, not push more cybersecurity to clients who might not be ready.<\/p>\n

3. Don’t Just Backup Data, Test Your Backups<\/h2>\n

Make sure to talk to your clients about backup<\/a> services, if they don\u2019t have them already. This ensures you can restore your clients\u2019 data and applications in the event of a breach or disaster. Food for thought: 69%<\/a> of businesses are affected by at least one successful ransomware attack, meaning it\u2019s likely not if, but when they\u2019ll get hit.<\/p>\n

For those who you\u2019re already providing backup and disaster recovery services to, be sure to audit and stress test these backups. This involves:<\/p>\n