With a grand total of 900 million records lost over the past six years, there is plenty of reason to be concerned about personal and financial information. But where does this concern fit in regards to other everyday issues? And what can public private partnerships really do about it?
Objective: Clarity
Securing Our eCity has been working closely with APWG and NCSA throughout 2009 and 2010 as part of the Messaging Convention to create the Advanced Strategy Online (ASO).
After two collaborative ASO meetings held this May in San Diego and this June in New York City the recommendations are now being compared with the poll data gathered from the APWG / NCSA sponsored poll.
The Messaging Convention driven by NCSA and APWG includes:
…ADP; AVG; Costco; ESET; Facebook; Google; Intel; Intuit; McAfee; Microsoft; PayPal; RSA, The Security Division of EMC; Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC); Symantec; Trend Micro; Verizon Communications; VeriSign; Visa; Walmart; Yahoo!; the U.S. Department of Commerce; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice; the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC); and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Michael Kaiser of the National Cyber Security Alliance provides further details:
This APWG/NCSA program started because both organizations had come to the realization that the consumer Internet safety and security space is overcrowded with ideas, tips, and information. There was a tremendous need to work in collaboration to harmonize the messaging and advice we give so computer users would feel confident with the steps they need to take to be safer and more secure online.
Michael Kaiser writes about the successful steps taken by the Messaging Convention:
The response was tremendous bringing together 22 companies and seven federal agencies working side-by-side on the project.
We also wanted to do it right. For us that meant setting out on a diligent course to understand where everyday computer users stood on these issues. The research, conducted in early summer with 1,007 Americans, uncovered some interesting information to guide us forward.
Some of the data framed where the threat of personal information loss fell for the average American: just above job loss and healthcare loss.
These results synch up with previous surveys Securing Our eCity has performed which show a growing trend of concern about the risks we all face in an interconnected eCity.
Comparing these results to the recent October 2009 ESET survey provides details about the knowledge of online threats.
ESET’s Cybercrime Awareness study from October 2009
The knowledge gaps become more clear in a solid comparison between three factors: Respondents correctly stated that cybercrime IS a threat 65% of the time yet they accurately defined WHO the threat comes from (organized crime) only 21% of the time. Further, accurately defining HOW (Phishing) the cybercriminals generally reach their victims was limited to just 47% of those polled.
All in all, as the aggregate totals show, only 8% could accurately answer all three questions. 18% got none of the answers correct.
We’re happy to support the upcoming Department of Homeland Security campaign which will be formally introduced for National Cybersecurity Month. With the concerted efforts of the entire Messaging Convention, this initiative is racing out of the gates!
