Barry Schramm, Marcus Wong, Jason Wood | 3 October 2025 

October marks Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM), a national initiative led by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) to help Australians stay secure online. Each year, the campaign brings together government, industry, and the community to build a stronger, safer digital environment for everyone.

The 2025 theme, “Building our cyber safe culture,” highlights that cybersecurity isn’t just about technology, but about people and habits. By taking small, consistent actions, we can all help make our organisations and communities more resilient. The ACSC encourages every Australian to focus on three simple protective behaviours:

1. Install software updates as soon as they’re available.
2. Use strong, unique passphrases for each account.
3. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible.

At Fortian, we’re proud supporters of Cyber Security Awareness Month. As a cybersecurity consultancy working across sectors including government, education, and financial services, we see first-hand how awareness and culture are key to reducing risk. Campaigns like CSAM help translate technical concepts into practical, everyday actions that make a real difference.

Throughout October, there are four weekly themes designed to help organisations strengthen their defences:

• ‍Week 1 (1–8 Oct) Event Logging:  “You can’t defend what you can’t see.” Building visibility through effective logging and monitoring.‍
• Week 2 (9–15 Oct) Legacy Technology:  Reducing risk from older, unsupported systems and planning secure transitions.
• ‍Week 3 (16–22 Oct) Supply Chain & Third-Party Risk:  Strengthening security across supplier and partner ecosystems.
• ‍Week 4 (23–31 Oct) Quantum Readiness:  Preparing for a post-quantum cryptography world.

Fortian will be contributing to this national effort with two in-depth blog posts aligned to the Week 1 and Week 3 themes: Event Logging and Supply Chain /Third Party Risk.

Cyber threats are constantly evolving, but awareness and collaboration remain among our most powerful defences. We encourage all organisations to use October as an opportunity to engage their teams, review their security posture, and strengthen the culture that underpins safe digital practices.

Stay tuned for our upcoming blogs as we explore these topics in more depth throughout Cyber Security Awareness Month 2025.