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APWG.EU Cybersecurity Awareness Symposium Examines Behavioral Interventions Against Cybercrime at Global Scale

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Peter Cassidy, on behalf of APWG and APWG EU

APWG.EU is holding its fourth annual Symposium on Global Cybersecurity Awareness in partnership with the European Commission and the Council of Europe (Convention on Cybercrime) on June 26 - 27, to be held at the European Commission Representation Office in Bucharest with the theme of Considering Behavioral Interventions at Global Scale.

The objectives of the Symposium, inaugurated by APWG.EU in 2016, are the establishment of global strategies for cybersecurity awareness development – and the cultivation of research, measurement tools and awareness assets deployed as instruments of cybercrime prevention regimens subject to the same rigor as any other kind of public health measure.

The questions that APWG.EU, APWG, its research correspondents and awareness advocates pose have been refined over the years as many different research disciplines have entered the field with an interest in understanding how the human dimension plays into the enduring success of cybercrime. Some arrived by way of the APWG's annual peer-reviewed research conference and others pulled into the orbit of the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. awareness campaign that APWG and its awareness development partner, NCSA, have launched, to date, in 21 nations.

The Awareness IV Bucharest review committee is receiving proposals for presentations from: developers of awareness programming; curators and advocates of awareness campaigns; and researchers on all behavioral aspects of cybersecurity, user metrics and behavioral interventions against cybercrime - and all related areas of public policy and risk management. Other topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

* Cybersecurity education and cyber awareness program development 

  • Cybersecurity awareness training metrics/evaluation of awareness campaign effectiveness 
  • Case studies of successful cyber awareness training / campaign 
  • Instruments that work in awareness: training, hacking demos, etc. 
  • Techniques and tools to raise awareness 
  • New techniques to train users 
  • Cybersecurity awareness in critical infrastructure 
  • Case studies on a country’s legislation support in cybersecurity education/awareness 
  • Metrics and techniques to measure efficacy of awareness programming

Important dates:

Session/Talk submission: April 18th, 2019
Author notification: May 2nd, 2019
Symposium: June 26-27, 2019

Submission instructions and web form are available on the Symposium’s notes page.

Awareness IV Bucharest coincides with the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019. The timing and venue places this year’s symposium and its discussions of awareness - as an instrument of programmatic suppression of cybercrime - within a potent multilateral context.

APWG Secretary General Peter Cassidy, founder of the symposium, said, “Interest in the behavioral aspect of cybercrime and appreciation of its role in cybercrime’s success has never been higher since APWG’s eCrime research conference began receiving scholarly papers on related subjects in 2006. Since then, our STOP. THINK. CONNECT. cybersecurity awareness campaign has been launched in 21 nations, joining scores of other awareness efforts worldwide.”

With industry’s increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity awareness/education/training offerings, researchers from manifold disciplines entering the space and the increasing interest of enterprises, national government and inter-governmental organizations in behavioral aspects of cybercrime prevention, Awareness IV Bucharest promises to be a keystone event.

About the APWG.EU

APWG.EU, established in 2013 as the Anti-Phishing Working Group European Foundation, is an industry association focused on unifying the global response to cybercrime. The organization provides a forum for responders and managers of cybercrime to discuss phishing and cybercrime issues, to consider potential technology solutions, to access data logistics resources for cybersecurity applications, to cultivate the university research community dedicated to cybercrime, and to advise government, industry, law enforcement and treaty organizations on the nature of cybercrime. Based in Barcelona, Spain, APWG.EU is the EU chapter of the APWG, established in Fall 2013 as a non-profit scientific research foundation managed by its trustees for the benefit of cybercrime fighters across Europe and beyond. (APWG, founded in 2003 as the Anti-Phishing Working Group, operates as a 501c6 tax-exempted corporation.) The APWG is the worldwide coalition unifying the global response to cybercrime across industry, government and law-enforcement sectors. APWG’s directors, managers and research fellows advise: national governments; global governance bodies; hemispheric and global trade groups; and multilateral treaty organizations. APWG is co-founder of the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Messaging Convention, the global online safety public-awareness collaborative and founder/curator of the eCrime Researchers Summit, the only peer-reviewed conference dedicated to cybercrime studies, proceedings of which are published by the IEEE.

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