A campaign by a Group of Syrian Institutions: #Do Your Part – Be Security Smart

On the eve of Computer Security Day (30 November), a group of Syrian organizations, which are; Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), Enab Baladi Newspaper, Rozana Radio, ARTA for Media and Development, Syrian Network of Print-Media (SNP), SalamaTech Project, I am Human website, come together to launch a cyber-security awareness campaign entitled #Do Your Part – Be Security Smart, aiming to highlight the importance of digital protection in our daily lives and raise awareness in this area among the Syrian society.

Computer Security Day is an annual event which has been celebrated since 1988. It is designed to raise awareness and to promote best practices in Information Security, with the focus on the measures of protecting computers along with information data stored digitally by governmental institutions, private companies and schools.

The Syrian-led, #Do Your Part – Be Security Smart campaign, aims at raising awareness of cyber security and protection among Syrian society groups, especially those working in the context of documenting human rights violations, media and civil society organizations.

Cyber Security: is a set of tools and applications that are used to protect digital and cloud stored data.

The #Do Your Part – Be Security Smart campaign begins on the 24th and lasts until the 30^th of November 2018. The campaign includes a range of activities that promote the knowledge of digital protection tools, like publishing awareness-raising videos, articles and leaflets, along with the launch of a Cyber Security Guide that contains simple and practical advice on how to improve your digital security.

Arabic and English hashtags have been created for the campaign:

#ComputerSecurityDay  #DigitalSecurity  #CyberSecurity

#الأمن_الرقمي  #أمن_المعلومات  #أمنك_مسؤوليتك  
 

Topics which will be highlighted through the campaign include:

• The cyber security’s concern of the IT security of individuals especially those in countries at war and conflicts.
• What is Social Engineering? and how to protect our social media accounts from being hacked?
• What is hacking?  
• The risks of using a pirated software, and the importance to make sure to get the original, licensed and open-source o/ne.
• The necessary measures to keep our tablets and smartphones secure and a list of easy steps to create strong passwords.

As technology becomes more and more deeply integrated into our lives, we become more and more dependent on it. But this dependence makes us vulnerable if technology fails, as we will suffer consequences in our daily lives, like infringing the privacy which could lead the personal information and data to be stolen and sold and on a broader vision it would threats the stability of a state and make the hackers use the information and interfere in its affairs.

The fact that our data and information been safe before a month or a week does not mean that they are still safe today!

The participating institutions:

1. Syrians for Truth and Justice: an independent Syrian organization, founded in 2015. It works in the fields of documenting human rights violations in Syria, breaches of international humanitarian law, as well as advocacy in international forums.
2. Enab Baladi: an independent Syrian media organization, launched from Daraya (Damascus suburbs) in 2011. It publishes a weekly newspaper which covers political and social events and discusses topics of interest.
3. Rozana Radio: a Syrian radio began broadcasting in 2013. It provides news bulletins and summaries along with a variety of community programs with an online streaming audio service.
4. Syrian Network of Print-Media (SNP): established in 2014 by a coalition of independent Syrian newspapers and magazines, which exchange journalism work experiences among each other.
5. ARTA for Media and Development: a non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in Amuda town, Al Hasakah province. It develops media independent projects and provide trainings and support to journalists.
6. SalamaTech Project: The project came together in 2012. It aims to spread awareness on cyber security among Syrian internet-users and protect them from any risk they might face. It also provides physical and online training when necessary. 
7. I am Human: a website publishes human angle stories, which mostly raise and address Syrian persons’ issues, especially those related to human rights violations, and highlight their success and achievements.