October 2021 was Cyber Security Month. Also this year GÉANT launched a campaign to raise cybersecurity awareness within the R&E community. After the success of “Become a Cyber Hero” CSM2020, which saw the active participation of 20 NREN organisations from Europe and beyond, we are delighted to inform you that Cyber Heroes returned bigger and better in October 2021!
Working from home safely
Due to the pandemic outbreak working from home has become commonplace for many organisations in the last eighteen months. Video conferencing tools and a variety of online platforms have been enabling us to work or study remotely: all we need is a laptop and an internet connection. In addition, going forward, hybrid work and distance learning are expected to become the norm, given the many benefits for both employees and employers.
But working from home can also bring additional cyber security risks. Proper ‘cyber hygiene’ is necessary to protect our devices and networks and to recognise any suspicious messages – and we have seen so many of those in circulation linked to the pandemic. This way we not only protect our organisation, but also our own data and our own identity!
For this reason the CSM2021 campaign focused on the importance of digitally safe home-working and its central theme, ‘Cyber Hero @ Home‘, was divided in 4 weekly sub-themes throughout the month of October 2021:
- Week 1 (4-10 October): Be aware of cybercrime
- Week 2 (11-17 October): Protect your network
- Week 3 (18-24 October): Protect your devices
- Week 4 (25-31 October): Protect your identity
Webinar recordings
- Work like a captain, play like a pirate
Speaker: Charle van der Walt – Head of Security Research, Orange - Think Before you Click: privacy in a highly technologised society
Speaker: Arnout Terpstra – Product Manager, SURF - Data sharing hygiene and the implications for security
Speakers: Carolina Fernández – Senior R&D Engineer, i2CAT; Nil Ortiz – Cybersecurity Innovation Expert, i2CAT - How to mess up yours… and your organisation’s life
Speaker: Stefan Lüders – Computer Security Officer, CERN
Share your expertise
One of our aims is to build further on the strong collaboration with NRENs by co-creating the CSM21 campaign with the R&E community. By contributing with your content and materials to CSM2021 you had the opportunity to share your expertise with a wide and international audience of researchers, students and NREN employees.
Are you part of the GÉANT R&E community and would you like to share your knowledge and expertise in the field of Cyber Security? Then we would really love to hear from you, don’t think about it twice and contact us at csm21@geant.org.
The CSM2021 Team