Today marks the first day of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

I am pleased to see one of the themes for this year’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, is about doing security updates. Only by patching your software in a timely manner, can you be truly secure. Even if you do all the other things, skipping this critical step will leave you vulnerable.

The themes for 2019 are as follows:

• Own IT.

› Never Click and Tell: staying safe on social media

› Update Privacy Settings

› Keep Tabs on Your Apps: best practices for device applications

• Secure IT.

› Shake Up Your Passphrase Protocol: create strong, unique passphrases

› Double Your Login Protection: turn on multi-factor authentication

› Shop Safe Online

› Play Hard to Get With Strangers: how to spot and avoid phish

• Protect IT.

› If You Connect, You Must Protect: updating to the latest security software, web browser and operating systems

› Stay Protected While Connected: Wi-Fi safety

› If You Collect It, Protect It: keeping customer/consumer data and information safe