General

With CyberScotland Week around the corner, a social media campaign has launched to bring attention to the common pitfalls of cyber safety. With only 26% of adults following advice to use three random words in their passwords, the campaign, created by the CyberScotland Partnership, aims to raise awareness of common mistakes people make in relation to their passwords, backing up data and using a password manager. 

Well kent face and beloved comedian Fred MacAulay has lent his support to the awareness campaign, through his DIGI Ken? gameshow host character, Chip. Bringing his own brand of humour to cyber awareness, Fred provides a series of top tips including why you shouldn’t use your pet’s name as your password, as well as other DIGI Ken? facts.  

CyberScotland Week – an annual collaboration between partners including the Scottish Government, Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland and Police Scotland – brings experts together for a packed programme of events designed to build cyber resilience across the country. The week-long programme which kicks off this month (26^th of February – 3^rd of March) will focus on three key themes of collaboration, diversity and resilience. 

The week includes a mixture of in-person and online events ranging from cyber security education for primary school-aged children and older people, internet safety and workplace cyber security drop-in sessions, public and third sector cyber events and much more. Events will take place across Scotland from the Highlands and Islands to the Borders, as well as across the central belt.  

Clare El Azebbi, Chair of the CyberScotland Partnership, said: “CyberScotland Week, which is in its sixth year, aims to shine a light on the simple steps people can take to improve their online security.  It may seem like common sense, but the stats show the reality. While over 60% of Scottish adults know they should use three random words in their password, only a quarter put this into action. The DIGI Ken? online campaign during the week will hopefully raise awareness of the cyber risk. We’re also encouraging people to take part, either in person or online, in CyberScotland Week and more information on the week can be found at cyberscotland.com.” 

Cyber security experts can share their knowledge by hosting an event, while those keen to further their expertise can sign up to attend as many events as they wish, either individually or as a team.  

Full details of CyberScotland Week events can be found at http://cyberscotland.com/cyberscotlandweek.   

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