News Item

New ENISA report with US Homeland Security – cyber security awareness raising

ENISA and the European Commission have worked with the US Department of Homeland Security to produce a report on “Involving Intermediaries in Cyber Security Awareness Raising’’. In focus were mechanisms for cross-border cooperation, as well as for public-private collaboration and information exchange.

Published on November 30, 2012

The report was one of the results of an EU-US workshop held earlier this year. The event brought together public bodies with experience in raising Network and Information Security (NIS) awareness, and private sector organisations working on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and other initiatives. The event’s emphasis was on mechanisms for cross-border cooperation, as well as for public-private cooperation and information exchange.

Key recommendations include awareness raising actions for PPPs. These are:

Make companies aware that awareness raising will help to create business opportunities and make money, through building a favourable, security-conscious brand image
Work on cyber security as a matter of cultural challenge and behavioural change.
Have in mind the importance of not scaring the users - encourage them to get online but get safe at the same time. Do not start technical. This is about communication. Therefore, messages have to echo with the target audiences.
Educate young users as good promoters of the security message - through them you can often reach their parents too.
Start education early - the sooner this starts, the better the Internet behaviour.
Consider media as a main channel, including social media networks, to get key messages out.
Improve measurement of the impact and success of the awareness raising (use key performance indicators, KPIs). The challenge is to go from measuring activities to measuring outcomes.