October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This year, the National Cybersecurity Alliance chose the theme of “Don’t Make It Easy for Them.” The idea is simple. Staying safe online comes down to a few habits you repeat every day: strong passwords, multifactor authentication (MFA), a little caution with surprise messages, and keeping your software up to date.
Most people already know these steps. The hard part is remembering them when you’re busy, which is exactly when attackers hope you’ll slip.
If you work for a government contractor, these habits matter even more. Your team handles controlled unclassified information (CUI), and your contracts come with government rules about keeping it safe. So when someone reuses a password or taps “approve” on a login they didn’t expect, the problem can spread past their inbox and into the data your contracts depend on.
Here’s a short checklist built around this year’s theme, with a quick note on what each habit means for a contractor. It won’t take long to implement, and your whole team can run through it this month.
Reusing the same password is one of the easiest ways for someone to get in. If a store or app you use gets hacked and you used that same password at work, an attacker can walk right into your work email.
For a contractor, email is often where CUI ends up. A password manager fixes this. It makes a long, random password for each account and types it in for you, so the only password you have to remember is the one that unlocks the manager.
MFA adds a second step after your password, usually a tap on your phone. It’s one of the best protections you can turn on. If your team handles CUI, the rules for protecting that data require it. The trick is to treat every prompt as a choice. Only approve a login you started.
If a prompt pops up when you aren’t signing in, say no and tell IT. A surprise prompt usually means someone already has your password and is knocking on the door.
Phishing is still one of the most common ways attackers get in, and the fake messages aimed at contractors can look very real. The sender might seem to be a prime contractor or a contracting officer, or even a government agency. There’s usually a rush: sign this now, pay this today.
That rush is the warning sign. Before you click a link or change any payment information, stop and check using a phone number you already have, not one from the message. And if you clicked before you thought about it, tell IT anyway. Reporting fast limits the damage, and you won’t get in trouble for speaking up.
Updates fix the security holes attackers look for. The catch is that a lot of updates only kick in after you restart. So a laptop you haven’t restarted in weeks can still be open to attack, even if the update already downloaded. When your device asks to restart, let it. Do the same on any phone you use for work. On a contractor’s network, one device that’s behind on updates can turn into a problem on your next security assessment.
CUI should stay in the systems your company set up to protect it. That means you shouldn’t put it in personal email, on a personal laptop or phone, or in a personal cloud account like a free file-sharing site. Those shortcuts feel fine when you’re in a hurry, but they move protected information outside the safeguards your contracts require. When you’re not sure whether something counts as CUI, play it safe and treat it like it does. Ask before you send or save it. If your team keeps hitting that question, Ntiva’s compliance guide for government contractors walks through how to set clear lines.
Security tools catch a lot, but some problems only come to light because a person speaks up. Maybe a laptop goes missing, or an email with sensitive files goes to the wrong person, or someone clicks a bad link. The sooner IT hears about it, the sooner they can limit the harm. This matters even more for contractors, because DoD requires many security incidents to be reported within 72 hours, and that clock doesn’t start until someone reports it. People speak up faster when they know an honest mistake won’t be held against them. Make that clear to your team now, before anything happens.
None of these habits need money or a big project. Each one takes a few minutes, and they work because you do them over and over. That repetition is the whole point of this year’s campaign. So pick one habit this week, share this list with your team, and build from there.
The bigger work is worth planning too. Knowing exactly where your CUI lives and getting ready for an assessment is hard to tackle alone, especially while you’re running the business and chasing your next contract. That’s where the right partner earns their keep.
Ntiva does this work every day for government contractors. Ready to see where you stand? Book a free IT strategy session. We’ll walk through your CMMC and NIST gaps and map a clear, practical path to compliance, built around how your team already works.