October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. NCCU joins the nationwide effort, co-led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA), to raise awareness and promote safer online behavior.
The theme for 2024 and continuing into 2025 is “Secure Our World”, emphasizing that — even amidst largescale threats — everyday, simple steps make a big difference.
Key Actions: The “Core 4” Behaviors
As part of this campaign, everyone at NCCU — students, staff, faculty — can help “Secure Our World” by adopting the following simple but powerful habits:
- Use strong, unique passwords and a password manager.
- Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever possible.
- Recognize and report phishing (emails, messages, links that look suspicious).
- Keep software up to date (install updates & security patches promptly).
What’s New/Why It Matters
- Cyber threats are evolving — phishing is getting more sophisticated, AI is being misused for disinformation, deepfakes, etc. “Secure Our World” highlights that digital safety depends not just on technologies, but on habits and human behavior.
- Everyone plays a part: from individual device settings to institutional policies. The more of us who adopt strong security practices, the more resilient our community (and NCCU as a whole) becomes.
Fast Facts
- 859,532 complaints with >$16B reported losses (+33% vs. 2023). Top complaint types: phishing/spoofing, extortion, personal data breach. Victims 60+ lost ~$5B. (Published Apr 23, 2025). Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Verizon analyzed 22,052 incidents and 12,195 confirmed breaches — its largest dataset ever. (Published May 2025). Verizon
- Credential abuse (22%) and exploitation of vulnerabilities (20%) are the leading initial access vectors; third-party involvement doubled to ~30% year-over-year. (Published Apr–May 2025). Verizon+1
- About 88% of basic web application attacks involved stolen credentials. Verizon
- ~60% of breaches involved a human element (errors, social engineering, misuse). Verizon
- Only ~54% of perimeter-device vulnerabilities were fully remediated; median 32 days to remediate. Verizon
- Ransomware features in a large share of breaches (e.g., 75% of system-intrusion breaches; many orgs now refuse to pay). Verizon+1
- U.S. average breach cost hit $10.22M (+9% YoY); global average $4.44M (−9%). 241 days to identify/contain on average (nine-year low). (Published Jul 30, 2025). CyberScoop