Safer Internet Day is organized every year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people across the world.
The initiative is supported by many organizations world wide including ENISA, APWG, Interpol, ITU, Facebook and Twitter.
#PlayYourPart – share @ITU Child #OnlineSafety guides on Safeter Internet Day! https://t.co/7T2ww7vKyM #SID2016 pic.twitter.com/IR5yCE37Vn
— United Nations (@UN) February 9, 2016
This year, SID fell on 9 February with the theme ”Play your part for a better Internet!’. Yup, everybody needs to chip in!
In our region, I noticed organizations such as the eSafety Commissioner of Australia, Netsafe NZ, Sri Lanka CERT, and even ANZ supporting the good cause. Search for #SID2016 in the Twitterverse and you’ll find lots of useful stories and pointers, such as enabling 2FA for all of your social media accounts.
But a safer Internet is not just a message for kids – businesses need to take note too.
Network security, New Zealand
Netsafe NZ recently released their Digital Challenges 2015 Report and discussed about Internet security threats experienced by individuals and businesses in New Zealand. Some interesting stats include:
- the average cost of security incidents last year was NZD $27,400
- total losses due to fraud was NZD $13.4 Million.
Some of the challenges in 2015 mentioned in the report were ‘Business email compromise’ (BEC) and implications of attacks on organizations websites. The report also reminds everyone to think about the need to have proper controls in place for preventing threats from being realized, and a working incident response plan in case something goes wrong.
Review your security controls
On this note, if you haven’t done it already, perhaps it is a good time to review security controls in your organizations. I highly recommend you look at CIS Controls for Effective Cyber Defense. As mentioned on their website, the reference documents contain a recommended set of actions that provide specific and actionable ways to stop today’s most pervasive and dangerous cyber attacks.
So do your bit for a better Internet!
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