Celebrate National Cyber Security Awareness Month this October

National Cyber Security Alliance, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Many Others to Host Activities Nationwide

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a non-profit public-private partnership focused on empowering digital citizens to stay safer online and protect digital assets, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and many others will celebrate the ninth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) this October with various activities across the nation. This year's theme: "Our Shared Responsibility," is intended to remind consumers and businesses that the Internet is a shared resource and we all need to do our part to protect it.

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The official NCSAM kick-off will take place on October 1^st during a morning launch event followed by an afternoon business summit with leaders from the federal, state, local government and industry from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CDT at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Scott Conference Center. The business summit will include industry experts from America's leading companies such as ADP, VISA, Microsoft, PayPal, AT&T, Verizon, McAfee, Symantec and other security experts. Those wanting to attend the event in person can register at: http://ncsamkickoff.eventbrite.com/. 

NCSA has also partnered with McAfee to produce a survey that examines Americans' online safety posture, which will be released in tandem with the official kick-off. Throughout the rest of the month, NCSA and supporting organizations will promote the importance of cybersecurity for businesses, parents, children, working professionals, and every-day Internet users with additional activities. 

"Last year, National Cyber Security Awareness Month reached millions of people. We are excited about raising the bar higher in 2012. It's not to late to get involved.  The NCSAM Web Portal has numerous resources that can be used to educate people and promote the month," said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. "Everyone can do their part by following the simple steps of the national cybersecurity education and awareness campaign STOP. THINK. CONNECT. We want everyone to take security measures, understand the consequences of actions and behaviors and enjoy the benefits of the Internet." 

Since 2003, National Cyber Security Awareness Month has focused on the need for improved online safety and security for all Americans. NCSA works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center each October and throughout the year to empower consumers, schools, businesses and government agencies to stay safe online.

Each year, the success of National Cyber Security Awareness Month continues to build through engagement of companies and organizations across the country.  Activities to educate people about the importance of staying safer and more secure online take many forms. NCSA encourages anyone who can play a part in helping people to learn online safety to get involved in the month's activities. A sample of events taking place across the country includes: 

• Radio Disney's "The Download" powered by NCSA, October 1-2, 2012, Omaha, Nebraska
  "The Download" powered by NCSA is a special program designed to help middle school students stay safe online through a fun and interactive game show format. The program will launch in conjunction with the NCSAM kick-off event in Omaha, Nebraska on October 1^st and 2^nd at local area schools. Touching on topics including posting photos, distributing passwords and personal information, and speaking to strangers online, Radio Disney will also host "The Download" in middle schools across Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Seattle and Portland, Maine beginning November 2012.
  
  
• Microsoft's Scam Defense Survey Results, October 15, 2012, Nationwide
  Microsoft will release the results of a survey revealing the top scams consumers in the U.S. are most concerned about, their exposure to online fraud and how to better protect themselves as scams become more inventive and targeted, available at: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/security/default.aspx. Additionally, during each week in October, Microsoft will also release video interviews with Online Safety expert Jacqueline Beauchere, director, Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, complimenting the weekly NCSAM themes and offering a variety of consumer safety tips.  The Scam Defense news and the weekly interviews are available here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/security/default.aspx. For more information on Microsoft's support of NCSAM, visit the Microsoft Safety & Security Center at: http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/cybersecurity.aspx and connect on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Safer_Online.
  
  
• Workplace Cyber Security Awareness Campaign by EMC, Throughout October, Worldwide
  RSA's parent company EMC is once again kicking off a workplace cyber security awareness campaign to its 55,000+ employees around the world, with a month-long campaign to train and test employees about the risks of phishing, using work-related mobile devices for personal activities and strong password best practices. The internal campaign will comprise both online and physical communications, events and mock phishing email challenges to company employees to test their abilities at recognizing phishing emails and Web sites.

• eCrime 2012 Researchers Summit, October 23-24,  Las Croabas, Puerto Rico
  The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) presents eCrime 2012 – two full days of open sessions examining crimeware's evolution, behavioral vulnerabilities and human factors that contribute to eCrime's success, the roles of Registrars, Registries and DNS in managing phishing attacks, public health approaches to managing the eCrime scourge, as well as breaking news on counter-eCrime efforts and resources. Registration details are available at: http://apwg.org/events/2012_ecrime.html
  
  
• Verizon's Safe & Secure 2012 -- A comprehensive education and empowerment campaign for consumers, business and government kicked off by the launch of a mobile security app that is now available and free to all wireless Android customers, the company is also providing a suite of online resources and public service announcements to underpin a six-week campaign to directly benefit consumers, key business sectors and vital government agencies. Also for consumers, the company will share its expert tips for seniors, children and other highly vulnerable groups via its own Web sites, and bring its insight to PC Magazine's Security Watch Summit (Sept. 27), discussing mobile network and device security. For business, the company will host an expert roundtable demystifying Security Beyond Compliance: Best Practices to Protect Financial Services (October 9) and share new insights from its highly respected Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, conducted each year with the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, specific to several business sectors in late October. And for government, the company will share its insights on ensuring the integrity of America's technological frontier in the Protecting Our Nation's Critical Infrastructure panel (Sept. 28) at the National Journal and Government Executive annual Cyber Security Summit. 

Additional event information and resources are available at the newly launched NCSAM Web Portal: http://staysafeonline.org/ncsam/events. NCSAM supporters can get the latest news and updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/staysafeonline and on Twitter at @StaySafeOnline. The official Twitter hashtag of NCSAM is #ncsam. NCSA also welcomes organizations to show their support for NCSAM by becoming an official NCSAM Champion and submitting their registration at:

http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam/champions/.

About The National Cyber Security Alliance

The National Cyber Security Alliance is a non-profit organization. Through collaboration with the government, corporate, non-profit and academic sectors, the mission of the NCSA is to educate and empower a digital citizenry to use the Internet securely and safely protecting themselves and the technology they use and the digital assets we all share. NCSA board members include: ADP, AT&T, Bank of America, EMC Corporation, ESET, Facebook, Google, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, PayPal, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Symantec, Trend Micro, Verizon and Visa. Visit www.staysafeonline.org for more information and join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/staysafeonline.

About  STOP. THINK. CONNECT.

The campaign was developed by the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Messaging Convention, a public-private partnership established in 2009 and led by The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) and National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) to develop and support a national cybersecurity awareness campaign.  The Department of Homeland Security provides the Federal Government's leadership for the campaign. Industry, government, non-profits and education institutions participate in STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Learn how to get involved at the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/STOPTHINKCONNECT, on Twitter at @STOPTHNKCONNECT, and the campaign website at www.stopthinkconnect.org.

SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance