Oman, represented by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), joins the rest of the world in celebrating the Safer Internet Day, which is marked on the first Tuesday of February every year. More than 100 countries are celebrating this day. This year it is being celebrated under the theme ‘Create, Connect and Share Respect: A Better Internet Starts with You’.
To mark this occasion, ITA, represented by Oman CERT, is organising an event at Muscat Grand Mall on Tuesday from 5-10pm. It will have a number of activities and workshops, targeting parents, adults and children.
In addition, messages will be shared through ITA’s social media accounts under the hashtag #SID2018 to raise awareness on cybersecurity and promote the culture of proper use of Internet among adults.
The campaign will also address the risks for children and youngsters and the best ways to deal with them, as well as highlighting the legal aspects in the use of Internet particularly social media channels.
The Safer Internet Day (SID) has become a landmark event in the online safety calendar. It started as an initiative of the EU SafeBorders project in 2004 and was taken up by the Insafe network as one of its earliest actions in 2005.
From cyberbullying to social networking, every year Safer Internet Day aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and chooses a topic reflecting current concerns.
According to the 2017 Norton Cyber Security Insights Report, consumers are confident they’re safe online, but hackers have proven otherwise, stealing US$172bn from 978mn consumers in 20 countries in the past year.
In UAE, they stole AED3.86bn from 3.72mn consumers over the past year, according to the Norton Cyber Report. More than half (52 per cent) of the 1,059 UAE respondents experienced cybercrime, with every victim losing an average of AED669 and 47.9 hours (about six working days) dealing with the aftermath of a cybercrime. Globally, 21,549 individuals over the age of 18 were surveyed across 20 markets.
Globally, cybercrime victims share a similar profile: They are everyday consumers who use multiple devices whether at home or on the go, but have a blind spot when it comes to cybersecurity basics. This group tends to use the same password across multiple accounts or share it with others.
Equally concerning, 39 per cent of global cybercrime victims despite their experience, gained trust in their ability to protect their data and personal information from future attacks and 33 per cent believe they had a low risk of becoming a cybercrime victim.
Source: http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Oman-marks-Safer-Internet-Day-today-56ru