Gov. Roy Cooper declared October Cybersecurity Awareness Month in North Carolina Monday, expressing the importance of online safety and the vulnerability of personal information after historical catastrophes like Hurricane Helene.

What You Need To Know

  • Scammers take advantage of others during crises like Helene

  • Cybercriminals search for personal and financial data on digital devices

  • Cybersecurity education and awareness is important

“Storms like Helene offer prime opportunities for cybercriminals looking to take advantage of others during a crisis situation when they may have their guard down. Every North Carolinian must remain vigilant about staying safe online and protecting their personal information,” Cooper said in a press release Monday.

Cooper warns N.C. residents of scammer techniques and ways to avoid being scammed.

Scammers use emails, social media messages, phishing emails, texts and phone calls to take financial and personal information, the release said. The governor warns against messages that include hurricane-related attachments, subject lines or hyperlinks.

To protect themselves from being scammed, officials encourage residents to update their software, make passwords random, long and unique, avoid sharing private information, “recognize, resist and delete phishing attempts” and allow multifactor authentication if possible.

“Our department continues to emphasize the importance of cybersecurity education and awareness. We are committed to ensuring that everyone can access the internet and guard against cyberthreats, which can happen to anyone at any time,” said N.C. Department of Information Technology Services (NCDIT) and State Chief Information Officer Jim Weaver.

The NCDIT, local, state and federal partners work to protect the N.C. government IT data, systems and assets against scammers. This includes an award of $44 million to a host of grant programs that help North Carolinians get digital devices, high-speed internet and efficiently and safely pilot today’s digital world, the release said.

For more information, visit the NCDIT Online Safety webpage.