Why should we Pause?
Cybersecurity internal controls put in place by state agencies protect data and systems. They also prevent the fraud, waste, and abuse of Commonwealth resources. Every employee in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and each department, agency, school, or office is critical to the Commonwealth’s cyber defenses.
All staff should be continually trained and reminded that cybercriminals are increasingly sophisticated, and AI (artificial intelligence) is being used to trick employees into clicking on malicious or fraudulent links or attachments or falling prey to imposters and scams.
Pause is a simple internal control to prevent most cyber incidents, and is the first step in Pause, Verify, Report: an action plan to prevent most cyber attacks.
Action Steps
Whenever an email, call, or text message comes in, state employees should Pause before opening a link or attachment, responding, or processing. Pausing allows time to ensure that the request is legitimate, and that a fraudster is not on the other end.