Cybersecurity Awareness Month a good time for communication, keeping tabs on AI

It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and you know what that means—time to click on precisely one phishing link and call the IT department.

For IT professionals, on the other hand, the month is a good time to get up to speed on security in 2025. Users are increasingly aware of the threat landscape, which is leading to concerns over privacy.

Almost eight in 10 (78%) US consumers who responded to a recent Mastercard survey conducted with the Harris Poll say they think about cybersecurity more than two years ago, a heartening statistic. When security is a topic of conversation at the dinner table, it’s clearly a growing concern.

Get talking. One way to address the threat is better communication. That’s what Avi Greenfield, business process automation firm Quadient’s VP of digital enterprise products, says can lessen worries and lead to a better overall security posture and outcomes.

“Every touch point, every communication—whether it’s a statement or an invoice or a notification—can potentially be a vulnerability if it’s not handled securely,” Greenfield said.

For IT teams, that means there’s pressure on them to make sure that data is stored securely. A good communications strategy helps combat fraud and phishing. Heightened awareness isn’t paranoia, but measuring the amount of information people receive can lead to a better assessment of the danger. Transparency goes a long way to building a foundation of trust.

“When we as consumers receive clear and consistent and recognizable communications, we’re less likely to fall for phishing or impersonation scams,” Greenfield said. “The sort of the customer communication management platforms that these IT professionals and operation professionals use to help ensure that those communications are accurate, and they’re also visually and contextually familiar—that helps to reinforce that brand trust and reduce confusion.”

Keep an eye out. The rise in AI has an impact on the perception of danger, Mastercard’s survey found; only 19% of respondents reported high confidence that they could identify AI-generated threats or scams. It was the top threat on the minds of those surveyed.

The danger of AI hangs over a number of potential threat vectors, including the payment processing system. Payment solutions company NMI Chief Marketing Officer Peter Galvin explained the opportunity presented by the technology, especially as agentic AI becomes ubiquitous for attackers and defenders alike.

“By having these agentic agents, you now have an agent that you can use that will be able to go to sites, will be tokenized, will be able to do transactions on your behalf, and also be able to connect with other agents through a digital handshake to buy things,” Galvin said.

However, awareness of the threat surface is key. Galvin told IT Brew that as attacks become more sophisticated and personalized, IT pros need to step up and help laypeople.

“There’s continuing education on, ‘Hey, these are the things that you need to be thinking about. These are the things you need to be careful about, as a small business owner who is taking payments,’” Galvin said, adding that the key was to ensure “they understand what risks are out there and the things that they should really try to avoid.”