In honor of this year’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) theme for this year is Building a Strong America. The official beginning of this year’s campaign began on October 1st and will feature a campaign engaging with all levels of government as well as business both big and small.
“Cybersecurity is a critical theater in defending our homeland,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Every day, bad actors are trying to steal information, sabotage critical infrastructure, and use cyberspace to exploit American citizens. Taking down these threats requires a strong private-public partnership, and the reforms we’ve implemented at CISA have empowered them to work with all of our partners to take down these threats and make America cyber secure again. This Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the time for us to continue our efforts to build a cyber strong America.”
And while it is unclear how much CISA will undertake in this campaign due to the federal government shutdown, it is correct in noting in its official announcement that “cyber threats never take a day off.”
With that said, CISA offered the following cybersecurity best practices that any individual or business can adopt and implement on their own, right now:
- Recognize and report phishing: Stop scams before they spread.
- Require strong passwords: Long, random, unique passwords protect accounts.
- Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA): Add a vital layer of defense.
- Update software: Patch known vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Additionally, you can take easy steps to boost your organization’s resilience.
- Enable system logging on your systems: Detect suspicious activity.
- Back up data: Speed recovery when incidents occur.
- Encrypt sensitive information: Render stolen data useless by keeping it locked and unreadable. Make encryption part of your security strategy.
Governor Healey has also declared October Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Massachusetts
Similar to the U.S. Federal Government, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts also celebrates Cybersecurity Awareness month during October. In making this year’s proclamation, Governor Healy noted, ‘Whereas, in recognition of the 21” year of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, all residents are encouraged to reduce online risks by using the resources available and learning about cybersecurity so they can put that knowledge into practice in their homes, schools, workplaces, and businesses.
For those interested in reading the proclamation, it can be accessed here: October 2025 Proclamation.
Massachusetts is the 11th state with the most losses recorded as a result of cybercrimes in 2024
Underscoring the need to promote cybersecurity awareness across the Commonwealth, the FBI’s annual report on cybercrimes shows that in 2024, Massachusetts citizens and businesses lost approximately $338,672,378 to cybercrimes. In a ranking of total losses to cybercrimes by states, Massachusetts ranked as the 11th state with the most losses and the first state in the New England region.
The states with the largest losses were California, Texas, and Florida with California’s total losses surpassing $2.5 billion. On the other end of the spectrum was Vermont which was ranked 52nd* with the least number of total losses at $11,285,11. As for the other New England states, Connecticut was ranked 26th with $143,884,002 in losses recorded, while New Hampshire ranked 40th with $52,811,455 in total losses. The FBI ranked Maine 46th with $31,455,797 in losses, Rhode Island was the 50th state ranked by total losses with $23, 597,036 reported in 2024.
Turning to the number of complaints by state, Massachusetts ranked 18th on the FBI’s list with 14,254 complaints involving cybercrimes in 2024. Connecticut was 33rd with 5,695 complaints logged, followed by New Hampshire in the 44th place with 2,340. Rhode Island was 48th with 1,642 complaints recorded followed by Vermont in 51st* place with just 937.
*FBI ranking included the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, U.S., U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, America Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands in its listing in addition to the 50 states.
