R 111830Z OCT 22
MARADMIN 531/22
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC DCI IC4 WASHINGTON DC//
SUBJ/OCTOBER 2022 - CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH OBSERVANCE//
POC/R. STATEN/CIV/UNIT: HQMC DCI IC4 ICC/CYBERSECURITY/TEL: 571-256-8875/EMAIL: RODDY.STATEN@USMC.MIL//
POC/MAJ GREG CARROLL/CIV/UNIT: HQMC DCI/COMMSTRAT/TEL: 571-256-8788/EMAIL: GREGORY.CARROLL@USMC.MIL//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1. This message announces observance of October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month.  Cybersecurity Awareness Month provides an opportunity for all Marine Corps personnel to improve their cybersecurity knowledge and performance in ways that ensure our individual behaviors contribution, rather than distract, from mission accomplishment.  
2.  Through investments in technologies, services and applications that automate and enable security at cyber-relevant speeds, current Marine Corps’ network modernization plans promote Service achievement of effective cybersecurity.  Also, the Marine Corps organizes, trains, equips and employs cybersecurity professionals to defend against network exploits intended to disrupt our cyber capabilities.  However, to overcome the volume and persistence of threats our adversaries have demonstrate the willingness to bring to bear, the full commitment and focused actions of our entire Marine Corps team is required to achieve the defensive posture required for success.
3.  The goal of this month’s observance is to provide the entire Marine Corps Team with information that helps them contribute to the fight.  This year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month Theme is “See Yourself in Cyber.”  Commands are encouraged to support unit and individual participation in this year’s campaign and can access supporting resources at the following link:  https:(SLASH)(SLASH)www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month#. 
4.  We all have individual work roles that are increasingly enabled by cyber.  Unfortunately, also increasingly these capabilities are assaulted by adversaries seeking to target, degrade and disrupt our cyber advantage.  The cybersecurity information and insights presented during this campaign will help the Marine Corps Team gain a greater understanding of the threat our flawed cybersecurity behavior might pose to mission, and they offer an opportunity for individuals to learn the beneficial cybersecurity practices that will deny our adversaries advantage.    
5.  Implementing the cybersecurity that achieves our Service goals is a highly complex endeavor.  It involves many organizations, thousands of people, numerous procedures, specialized practices, hardware, services, etcetera.  By seeing ourselves in cyber, focusing on our individual cyber actions, we simplify the complexity to help us assess our own actions.  When doing so, it becomes easier to see the behaviors that we, as ordinary system users, must master to keep sensitive information secure and protect our network resources. 
6.  This month, take time to visit Marine Corps, DoD and other official government, industry and academia media channels hosting Cyber Awareness Month campaign content.  Taking in the information presented at these venues can improve your knowledge, skills and abilities on topics relevant to your use of cyber – at work and at home. 
6A.  Marine Corps campaign content presented this month will highlight a different theme each week:
1.  Week One:  Identity Credentials That Ensure - “I Am Who I Say I Am.”
2.  Week Two:  Recognizing and Reporting Email Threats (e.g., Phishing).
3.  Week Three:  Keeping your Software Up-to-date (A Shared Organization-User Responsibility).
4.  Week Four:  Marine Corps Cybersecurity.
6B.  Your Role.  At a minimum, all Marine Corps personnel authorized government computer or network access have “system user” as a cyber-role.  While the Marine Corps employs a cybersecurity workforce that executes cybersecurity policy, procedures and practices to protect you and other resources online, these efforts are not enough to protect against all possible threats to our cyber capabilities.  System users can help by learning and applying the officially prescribed cybersecurity behaviors highlighted during this month’s campaign. 
7.  As the Marine Corps invests in a more secure, resilient network, the human aspect of cybersecurity is vital and remains paramount.  From ordinary system users, to cybersecurity professionals actively defending against the cyber threat, a whole of force effort is needed to ensure the security of the information and systems we rely on for command and control and mission critical decisions.  The Marine Corps appreciates your continued commitment and daily contribution to improving our force readiness against cyber threats.   
8.  Release authorized by BGen J. A. Matos, Director, Information Command, Control, Communications, and Computers Division, Deputy Commandant for Information.//