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Graphic with a red pause button, a yellow check mark, and a green play button and the words pause, verify, report at work underneath.

The following free resources are available to distribute, train and discuss with your employees in addition to any mandatory cybersecurity awareness trainings required by your department.  

 

Tips for Safeguarding your Work

These tips are organized here for your convenience to be able to provide additional and continuous training and reminders to your staff. 

REPORT suspicious invoices, emails, or change request that you can’t VERIFY

Scammers use email messages and invoices to trick targets into giving up personal and financial information.

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VERIFY that invoices or invites to applications are legitimate before opening and processing

State employees should verify that invites to sign invoices through DocuSign, Adobe Acrobat Sign or to use tools like SharePoint are legitimate before opening. Imposters may be lurking behind those links, but there are ways to VERIFY.

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PAUSE VERIFY REPORT At Work Infographic

It is up to everyone in state government to protect Commonwealth of Massachusetts data.

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HR and Payroll staff should take our action steps to pause and verify personally with any employee requesting an important payroll change such as bank accounts, addresses or other personal information.

It is crucial to validate your vendors to protect your organization from cyberattacks. Take our action steps to prevent fraudsters from infecting state government systems with malware.

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Personally Verify vendor invoices and change requests before processing

It is crucial to validate your vendors to protect your organization from cyberattacks.

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Personally VERIFY employee change requests before processing

HR and Payroll staff should take our action steps to pause and verify personally with any employee requesting an important payroll change such as bank accounts, addresses or other personal information.

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It’s not personal: Only use office-issued or office-approved devices when working for the Commonwealth

It’s important to only use office assigned or approved devices while working.

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VPN all day, every day

Ensure your workstation is secure

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PAUSE VERIFY REPORT While Teleworking Infographic

A reminder to always be vigilant about cybersecurity, especially while working away from the office.

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Avoid playing with risky AI chatbots

Everything entered into some of the new AI-powered chatbot search bars or websites can become publicly available.

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Secure your virtual workstation by giving your Wi-Fi a new name

This is the easiest and best way to prevent most outside attacks

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Why should we PAUSE?

PAUSE is a simple internal control that can help state employees prevent most fraud and cyber incidents, including methods seen recently and frequently. (Less than 1 min. read)

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What should I VERIFY?

VERIFY who you are interacting with before you act.

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Who do I REPORT suspicious activity to?

REPORT suspicious emails or requests or any you can't verify.

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Cybersecurity Made Simple with PAUSE, VERIFY, REPORT

In the 2023 Employee Cyber Awareness Micro Training, we simplify Cybersecurity with three simple steps: PAUSE, VERIFY, REPORT. Cybersecurity simply is the protection of data and systems with internal controls. This video is meant for state employees and should be shared with department colleagues.

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Free Cybersecurity Awareness Training Videos

Cybersecurity videos to help keep you Cyber safe while working.

The CTR Cyber 5 with Lola Obamehinti (4:49 min.)

Lola Obamehinti, a technology leader, television host, and keynote speaker, joins the CTR Cyber 5, to share five tips for successful cyber awareness trainings.

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Tips for Successful Cybersecurity Compliance Management (4:54 min.)

Lisa Beth Lentini Walker, CEO of Lumen Worldwide, talks about ways to make conversations about cybersecurity easy to understand, and relatable to others.

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Tips on Recognizing Phishing and Other Fraud Attempts (3:38 min.)

Lieutenant Brian Gavioli of the Massachusetts State Police discusses tips for reporting incidents. (CTR Cyber 5)

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Cyber Security Awareness for Teleworking Employees (7:16 min.)

Founder and CEO of WIZER Security Awareness Training, Gabriel Friedlander, shares 5 Tips for Cyber Security Awareness for Teleworking Employees. (CTR Cyber 5)

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5 Tips for Providing Data to Third Parties (7:38 min.)

Corporate attorney Jennifer Sanders speaks about what departments and agencies should know about the data they are sharing when using a third party system. (CTR Cyber 5)

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How Scammers Hack Your Emotions to Steal Your Data (1:21 min)

Learn some of the approaches scammers use to help you be more aware. (WIZER)

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You Can Get Phished on Microsoft Teams and Slack (1:17 min)

Internal messaging apps can be used by criminal hackers if the employee's account gets compromised. (WIZER)

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Related Cybersecurity Content

Cybersecurity Awareness Training Page

The Cybersecurity Awareness Training main page has free resources to keep you Cyber safe at work, at home, and on the go.

VISIT PAGE

CTR Cyber

The Office of the Comptroller has developed CTR Cyber to identify key cybersecurity internal controls for Commonwealth of Massachusetts departments, and to promote cybersecurity awareness and cyber vigilance for everyone in these organizations.

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Report Cyber Incidents, Suspicious Activity, and Fraud

It is important that Commonwealth of Massachusetts departments immediately report any cyber incidents or other suspicious activity to departmental IT staff, even if the activity or email seems innocuous.

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