With it being the last week of the #NationalCybersecurityAwarenessMonth, what have you done to improve your digital health?
Today, October 27th 2018, Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu (WSC) and the City of Santa Monica partnered up to hold free sessions at the public library to share best practices on securing your digital presence.
The agenda included:
- What is Cybersecurity?
- Common Compromises
- Social Engineering
- Oversharing info
- Password Hygiene
- Safe Surfing
- Patching
- Mobile Safeguards
- How to check if you have been hacked?
How did this come to be?
When ThotCon shared its Cybersecurity Action Day initative, I immediately wanted to expand that idea beyond Chicago. So when I ran into the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Santa Monica, Veronica Mitchell, I shared the idea of a joint partnership between the City of Santa Monica & the nonprofit.
“The idea you [Mansi] shared came at the perfect time actually. When I first assumed the role of the CISO, I met with various department heads & the library staff mentioned they were actively interested in expanding their programs. Both the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Library Director were very supportive of this initiative from its inception.” ~Veronica Mitchell, CISO of the City of Santa Monica.
Who attended?
These free sessions were open to the general public We saw dozens of library patrons that ranged from passionate city employees to retired grandparents who wanted to learn how to use technology in a secure manner.
“We have done these kind of sessions on the East Coast but this is our first as we have recently started to expand WSC across the nation. I firmly believe in the importance of making the general public aware of the various trends & scenarios. We are very grateful for the support from the City of Santa Monica. ” ~Lisa Jiggetts, CEO & Founder of WSC.
Key Takeaways?
Through various real-life examples & background knowledge we wanted to have the audience leave with two major items: 1) Be Conscious & Cautious of your decisions 2) Realize that you are not alone and there are resources like WSC to hep navigate.
“I really loved the demos you shared. The activity with bingo really helped me see internet in a different manner. The Wells Fargo example immediately made me understand the concept & see the actual consequences of a phishing attempt.” ~Kelly Wortham, Librarian at Santa Monica Public Library.
I had a lot of fun and learned few things of my own throughout the day. Like what kind of data does the magnetic strip on the driver’s license hold? Wortham also shared it is so easy to feel technology is scary so I should not use anything, however, this day was filled with concrete things you can do which is very helpful and empowering.
“I always look at my machine to see if it has malware, but did not know that the [web]sites I visit also has them.” ~Nora, Library Patron.
The full presentation can be found here: https://bit.ly/2JhKZWJ. I will add more snippets from the day in the week to come. Thank you so much to the organizers, volunteers & participants!
