Five security resources to kick off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month - Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

Five security resources to kick off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

IT guy at computer

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), which is recognized globally, and this year it feels more relevant than ever. It’s been an eventful year for practically every organization, and cybersecurity has become even more central to ongoing conversations around keeping employees safe while working remotely.

While 2020 has had more than its fair share of challenges, I’ve been impressed by how our partners and customers around the world have stepped up to prioritize the safety of their people—from limiting face-to-face engagements to defending remote workers against new types of cyberattacks and more. It’s been a helpful reminder that, at the end of the day, everything we and our partners work so hard to achieve is done with the intent of delivering a safe and exceptional experience for our employees and our customers.

This month, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to reflect on your own organization’s security journey and to consider what else you can do to keep the people and information that your company depends on safe. We’re here to support you every step of the way; whether you have questions about implementing a zero trust framework, eliminating passwords, or better utilizing the baked-in security features of your Microsoft tools, products and services, we’re committed to ensuring you—and the full Microsoft partner network—have what you need to thrive.

To help you kick off NCSAM right, I’ve rounded up some noteworthy cybersecurity resources that we published recently:

  • A blog post that explores security announcements from Ignite 2020 for Microsoft Defender, our comprehensive extended detection and response offerings, enhanced protections for containers and IoT, Compliance Manager to help customers address increasing regulations, a new decentralized identity pilot and new connectors and APIs to help you to protect identities, apps and services across your cloud environments, even outside of Microsoft.
  • An overview of new capabilities for Microsoft Compliance that help organizations enable secure remote work, address regulations and uncover new risks.
  • A blog post from Microsoft CVP Ann Johnson offering guidance on how to develop a diverse cybersecurity team.
  • A blog post that looks at new Microsoft data that shows COVID-19 is accelerating the digital transformation of cybersecurity.

Additionally, for the marketers in your organization, we’re hosting an Ask Me Anything event where you can find out everything about bringing your marketing to life with new cybersecurity go-to-market resources. The session will be held on October 20, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time and you can register here.

Cybercriminals continue to evolve and become more creative with their attacks, but the Microsoft partner network is committed to building the resilience that is needed to manage the constantly evolving challenges in the industry. I hope that everyone takes full advantage of NCSAM as an opportunity—regardless of if you’re a security professional—to recommit to helping to keep our data safe. As we join forces, I’m sure we’ll be able to help our communities, employees and companies stay protected!

Author

  • Tracey Pretorius
    Senior Director, Global Security Research Strategy

    Tracey leads Microsoft worldwide security researcher enablement strategy efforts to ensure our customers benefit from world-class security and AI solutions. She is passionate about helping customers and partners navigate an ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape and leverage Microsoft technology to effectively protect against and respond to cybercrime. Collaboration with security experts and partners across industries is critical to driving cybersecurity advancements. Tracey is involved in a number of groups, including co-founding and chairing the Microsoft Women in Security (MWiS) group, engagement in the Executive Women’s Forum (EWF) for Information Security, Risk Management & Privacy, an executive sponsor of partner KPMG’s i-4 Forum for Information Security & Risk professionals and on their CISO global member advisory board, an advisory board member at Strategic Cyber Ventures, and is also on the board of directors of the Choroideremia Research Foundation.