October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. While we've traditionally used October as the month to promote security awareness, this is the first time it has been declared by the federal government. I applaud the administration for attempting to raise awareness by this official proclamation.

The question now is what do we do about it? Take this opportunity to get in front of your executive leadership and piggyback on this while the hype is hot. Typically executives keep tabs on things coming out of the White House and they may have questions. Seize the moment.

Next is to volunteer to provide some education at a library, school, church or other civic organization to help parents and kids learn the dangers lurking on the internet. If we as professionals don’t step up and offer some real solutions to the problems our kids face, we will wind up with the same type of battles we faced in the ‘80’s with trying to put the expanding drug problem to rest.

While this may seem like a small step, awareness really has to be the first step. Until people know they need to protect their data and privacy they will continue to misuse it. Identifying the problem and getting people to recognize and accept it must be our first battle. We’re doing OK today but we need to do better.