How to increase Citizens’ Cybersecurity Awareness: the third Cybersecurity Dialogue Discussion 

On November 3, 2022, the USAID Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine Activity in partnership with Aspen Institute Kyiv held the third Cybersecurity Dialogue Project event on Cybersecurity awareness among Ukrainian citizens. The event was conducted in the  Aspen Action Forum format.

Today resistance to Russian aggression is ongoing not only on the battlefield but also in cyberspace. Hostile hackers attack not only governmental institutions and critical infrastructure facilities but also ordinary citizens. Thereby all citizens must follow the basic rules of cyber hygiene to protect themselves and to strengthen the capabilities of the national cyber security system.

The USAID Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine Activity involved over 30 experts from the fields of Cybersecurity, marketing, strategic communications, and behavioral change to discuss the issues of cyber awareness and cyber hygiene of the public. During the group discussions, experts shared their thoughts and ideas on the topics:

• necessary Сybersecurity skills of Ukrainian citizens;
• the definition and grouping of target audiences for the national information campaign; 
• updating the behavior paradigm of Internet users; 
• key messages for the national information campaign; 
• selection of communication channels under martial law conditions.

The results of the Dialogue expert discussion will be used for the national information campaign on cybersecurity in Ukraine development to increase the level of public awareness in the field of cybersecurity. Enhanced cyber awareness will allow citizens to protect their data from potential cyber threats and make it as difficult as possible for hackers to carry out large-scale attacks through citizens’ devices.

Cybersecurity Dialogue Program was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, under a grant provided by the USAID Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine Activity.