Galexia

An Overview of International Cyber-Security Awareness Raising and Educational Initiatives (2011)

Campaign Evaluations – B. An evaluation of the MakeITsecure campaign

A public/private initiative aimed at a television campaign and comprehensive website known as makeITsecure.ie. Refer to Appendix 1: Ireland: Campaign 3 – MakeITsecure at page 53.

Abstract: The Department of Communication, Marine and Natural Resources together with BT, Dell, Eircom, the Irish Bankers Federation, IAB, Microsoft, Symantec, the National Centre for Technology in Education, Ward Solutions and Vodafone are working together to raise awareness of the urgent need for consumers and businesses to make their computer secure. This public-private consortium has created the second national computer security awareness campaign: ‘makeITsecure’. The growth in PC ownership and availability to children, the increased use of online banking, the increased volume spam, Internet access and usage and the current broadband levels of over 15% of the population are some of the reasons why the consortium has launched the second edition of this initiative. The 2005/2006 campaign addressed emerging issues, such as’ Phishing; identity theft; spyware and child safety online.
Methodology: A survey was used to document pre-campaign awareness versus post-campaign awareness.
Findings: Awareness increased to 44% (from 33% in 2004). Security measures taken by Internet users all increased. Over half of ‘aware’ users undertook extra PC security measures as a result of the campaign. Understanding of terms such as ‘identity theft’ and ‘spyware’ improved dramatically in the post-2005 campaign research with scores of 55% (from 24% pre-campaign) and 49% respectively (from19%).