“Practical steps to Cyber Security” A Special Guide to Online Security

Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) launched a guide in IT security entitled “Practical Steps to Cyber Security” in the context of an online safety awareness campaign it conducted along with other Syrian institutions, from 26 to 30 November 2018 under the hashtag #Do Your Part – Be Security Smart, to coincide with the Computer Security Day.

The guide summarizes topics taken up and dealt with, at six training workshops held by STJ between March and July 2018. The topics covered basics of cyber security and the practical steps on installing and utilizing its most important tools, in addition to possible solutions to preserve digital privacy and protect sensitive information.

The guide is a part of an ambitious project aims at raising awareness of cyber security and protection especially among those working in the context of documenting human rights violations, media and civil society organizations in Syria and other Arabic-speaking communities in the MENA region.

The topics covered by the guide include:

1. Why cyber security is important,
2. How the Internet and the Service Provider (ISP) work,
3. What is encryption,
4. How to data backup,
5. Antivirus protection.

The campaign #Do Your Part- Be Security Smart was conducted between the 26^th and 30^th of November 2018 by the Syrian institutions; Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), Enab Baladi, Rozana Radio, Arta for Media and Development, Syrian Network of Print-Media (SNP), SalamaTech Project, I am Human website, Syrian Journalists Association, and Ethical Charter for Syrian Media Alliance, aimed at highlighting the importance of cyber security in our daily lives and raising awareness among the Arabic-speaking communities. In addition to the launch of the cyber security guide, the campaign involved the publication of awareness-raising videos, articles and posts on social media.  

The published videos provide important Cyber Security advice in a very simple and attractive way. The topics included are:

1. Why is it important to be aware of cyber security and social engineering?
2. The importance of choosing strong and secure passwords for our accounts.
3. What is hacking?
4. The importance to obtain open-source software.
5. Cell phone security.

The published articles provide a greater understanding into online safety and the different types of cyber threats and how to deal with each.

The articles provided information on:

1. The Computer Security Day,
2. Cyber threats and punishing cyber criminals,
3. What is social engineering and how to be protected from,
4. How to protect our accounts on social media,
5. How to create strong passwords,
6. What is hacking,
7. What is encryption,
8. The open-source software features and the risks of the pirated,
9. Ways to protect our smartphones from cyber threats,
10. Ways to keep our children away from digital threats.