KnowBe4 Launches Cybersecurity Awareness Month University Challenge

Industry and university collaboration project sees students combine cybersecurity, communications, and creativity to deliver new security awareness content based on CAM themes

LONDON, Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KnowBe4, the provider of the world's largest security awareness training platform, today announced it is spearheading an initiative among UK universities that invites students with an interest in media/comms or cybersecurity to work collaboratively together to produce a security awareness video that addresses one of the themes from Cyber Security Awareness Month (CAM). Supported and judged by a working group consisting of esteemed professors from universities across England, Scotland and Wales, the winning entry will be showcased at KnowBe4's annual conference, KB4-CON, and entrants will compete for cash prizes, internships and work experience.

The aim is to bring students together from differing academic backgrounds, connecting the skills of communications, creativity and cybersecurity together to help SMEs and critical industries address cybersecurity risk.

"Creating a good security culture and practices requires communication and different messaging to reach all sectors of the economy," said Javvad Malik, Lead Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4. "Linking the skills of communication, creativity and good technical cyber know-how will seed new thought and deliver innovative experiences that grow collaborative project skills. It's an exercise that can be carried forward into the students' careers and shed some light on real industry challenges and strategies moving forward."

In teams of up to four people made up of students with an interest in media/comms and computer science/cybersecurity (note: it does not have to specifically be these degrees), the students will work together to first identify a threat to business based on one of the themes from this year's Cybersecurity Awareness Month. They will need to perform industry interviews and speak to organisations about their security awareness programmes, what types of social engineering, phishing or other cybersecurity threats they are up against. They will also need to address industry trends such as the growth of incidents involving small and medium enterprises. Using the information gathered, they will work together to create a max three-minute video to convey the issue through storytelling, demonstrate the scale of the problem and provide lessons on how to overcome it.

The challenge is being launched in line with Cybersecurity Awareness Month and final entries will be judged in January 2023. Visit the website for all the latest updates: https://www.securityserious.com/kb4challenge/

Supporting quotes from Working Group Members:

"Education and people are critical elements to creating a trusted digital world. Currently some estimate that over 95% of cyber breaches are through human error. So, I couldn't think of a more brilliant way to address this than engaging diverse students to ideate and converge their fresh thinking, creativity and communication skills to produce inspiring new video messaging for the 2022 Cybersecurity Awareness Month," said Professor Lisa Short, Global Technology Influencer & Founder of Areté Business Performance. "It's simply amazing to see collaboration encouraged between universities, students and businesses to produce really meaningful impact to reduce digital harm and cyber risks. It also highlights the diverse nature of employment and working in cybersecurity and new talent pathway opportunities. When asked by Yvonne at Eskenzi PR, I had the best team sorted and ready to help."

'I love this concept of breaking out of computing and getting the scientists working with the arts and business students,' said Danny Dresner, Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Manchester. 'Good practices in cyber security will only be realised if they get ownership from business leaders, colleagues and peers...and let's not forget bringing key cyber security messages to the wider community; so many people can be easily led astray and become lost in the cyber landscape!'

KnowBe4, the provider of the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 52,000 organizations around the globe. Founded by IT and data security specialist Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness about ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to awareness training on security. Kevin Mitnick, an internationally recognized cybersecurity specialist and KnowBe4's Chief Hacking Officer, helped design the KnowBe4 training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Tens of thousands of organizations rely on KnowBe4 to mobilize their end users as their last line of defense.

Media Contact
Amanda Tarantino
Public Relations Officer
KnowBe4
amandat@knowbe4.com 

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