Yesterday marked the closing of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the United States where experts, advocates and communities bring awareness to the need for keeping ourselves safe online. This year’s theme “Our Shared Responsibility” emphasizes the role we all play in securing our world online. At Symantec, every day is focused on sharing this responsibility through our world leading cybersecurity products, operating one of the world’s largest cyber intelligence networks, preparing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, and donating our time, skills and experience to educate our communities. From creating safety ambassadors to protecting terminally ill children to inspiring tomorrow’s leading tech stars, below we highlight recent online safety initiatives across the globe.
Kosch-Westerman Foundation and Symantec team up to protect the terminally ill
Product donation is Symantec’s largest mechanism to support the nonprofit community and help nonprofits fulfill their missions. In partnership with TechSoup, each year we provide cybersecurity solutions to more than 25,000 organizations across 55 countries worldwide, allowing them to secure their most important data wherever it lives. Since launching the software donation program in 2002, Symantec has helped more than 93,000 nonprofits solve today’s biggest security challenges and protect against the ever-evolving threat landscape.
When a child becomes sick, their world suddenly becomes limited to what they can access from their bed. These children, however, are just as likely to be the target of hackers, stumble upon inappropriate web content or accidentally download malware as anyone else. To address these challenges, the The Kosch-Westerman Foundation, which connects terminally ill children to the outside world, turned to TechSoup and Symantec for help, requesting licenses of Norton Security Deluxe. Our donated product, now installed on all 50 foundation devices, provides peace of mind when the children connect virtually with their family and friends.
John Warby and Symantec empower staff to become online safety ambassadors
“Symantec’s cyber safety volunteering program empowers staff to become ambassadors for safe Internet use in their communities. Our staff share in our company’s commitment to reach out to our local communities and educate parents and students about how they can behave safely and participate responsibly online.” – Symantec Managing Director, Pacific Region, Ian McAdam
As part of an ongoing community-based leadership and cyber safety education program, this September Symantec hosted approximately 20 students from John Warby Public School at the Symantec’s Security Operations Centre (SOC) in Sydney. John Warby Public School is situated in Campbelltown in South West Sydney and its students come from a variety of cultural and language backgrounds. Nearly all (99 percent) of the students who attend John Warby Public School live in Department of Housing properties and many of the children experience financial and emotional hardships.
The program, which was an extension of an onsite visit in March, aims to reinforce leadership skills and encourage students to share learnings with their peers. Additionally, it kicked-off of a 10-week long mentoring program, which pairs students with Symantec employees who guide them on key cybersecurity and online safety topics.
During the visit, students participated in online safety sessions covering topics such as how to carefully choose the personal information they share and how to create strong passwords. They had the opportunity to participate in a password hacking experiment, seeing first-hand how Symantec blocks security threats. Students also experienced what a job in the security industry looks like and spoke to Symantec security engineers providing inspiration for potential future careers in cybersecurity. For many it was the first time they visited an office environment or even stepped into a high-rise building.
The event was also a fantastic experience for the Symantec team, seeing first-hand the interest of the students and often put on the spot with the student’s candid and clever questions.
Symantec volunteers at John Warby Public School in Sydney, to educate students on online safety and excite them about careers in tech and cybersecurity. (Source: iTWire)
Symantec and CoderDojo support tech’s youngest rising stars
This June, for the fifth consecutive year, CoderDojo, a community of volunteer lead programming clubs for children ages 7-17, held its annual Coolest Projects event in Dublin. The event has grown exponentially from just 19 projects across four CoderDojo’s in 2011 to 700 projects this year (219 created by girls), 90 of which were international projects. Over 13,000 people attended the event, which featured 55 guest speakers delivering presentations across four summits covering Coding, Women in Tech, and Innovation and Games.
“CoderDojo is unique. CoderDojo enables young people to develop their skills as creators and inventors of technology outside of the typical classroom environment. It enables creativity & freedom to put imagination to practice while learning computer programming & problem solving in a fun way! Thoroughly enjoyed Coder Dojo volunteering and it was inspiring to spend time with Dojos, especially my new 6 year old friend who was teaching me about the “Alice”. 3D programming environment!”
- Davorka Banovic, Manager, Business Critical Services, Symantec
For the first time this year Symantec was engaged as a platinum partner of the event. 19 volunteers gave 125 hours and supported on a range of activities from hosting the Symantec stand to judging to presenting awards, and most importantly educating attendees about best practices for online safety how and representing Symantec Ireland as the leader in IT security. At the Symantec event booth, employees educated attendees about online dangers and how to stay safe when visiting websites and downloading applications or software.
Additionally, Dublin based Director for Codesigning, Richard Hall, spoke on the Summit stage walking the audience through code-signing security best practices. And project teams all received a goodie bag with a Symantec branded webcam protector which they could stick onto their laptops and tablets as a physical layer of security. Lastly, Symantec sponsored the award for best male and female in the Mobile Application category.
The team really enjoyed the experience with CoderDojo and hope this is the first of many years in which Symantec can support CoderDojo and the Coolest Projects Awards.
Symantec sponsored CoderDojo’s 5th annual Coolest Projects event, which drew 13,000 attendees this June.
Symantec employees at the company’s event booth educate CoderDojo attendees on the importance of online safety.
Symantec sponsored the award for Best Mobile Application by a male and female at the CoderDojo Coolest Project event.