Sailors and civilians assigned to Fleet Cyber Command (FCC) South participated in a cybersecurity stand down held October 28 at FCC South headquarters in Suffolk, Virginia.

The event, held in conjunction with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, was designed to engage and educate personnel on proper computer usage and best practices.

"The goal was raising awareness about cybersecurity and increasing resiliency...in the event of a cyber-incident," said Teresa Duvall, a Navy authorizing official (NAO) division head. "We saw the cybersecurity awareness stand down as an opportunity to take time to meet and discuss important cybersecurity items and our roles and responsibilities."

Attendees participated in an all hands call to discuss a variety of cybersecurity topics including OPSEC, protecting credit, mobile phone security and safe-guarding and protecting classified materials.

"We all get caught up in the daily routine of business and operations, but it is important to bring cybersecurity to the forefront and take a hard look at what measures we should be taking, and implementing good business practices," said Vickie Mims-Harris, a NAO assessment vulnerability monitoring branch head.

During the stand down, the panel discussed how technology and social media are influencing OPSEC today.

"Initially we said loose lips sink ships," said Carlos Parter, an NAO circuits cybersecurity analyst. "Today, with social media, loose fingers sink ships. So be careful what you say when sending messages over social media platforms."
In addition, as part of the stand down, personnel collected burn bags and shredded unneeded paper documents.

U.S. Fleet Cyber Command serves as the Navy component command to U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command, and the Navy's Service Cryptologic Component commander under the National Security Agency/Central Security Service. Fleet Cyber Command also reports directly to the Chief of Naval Operations as an Echelon II command.

U.S. 10th Fleet is the operational arm of Fleet Cyber Command and executes its mission through a task force structure similar to other warfare commanders.

For more news from Commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/FCCC10F/.