October – The month of Cybersecurity Awareness

In the golden month of October, everything revolves around internet security. This campaign has existed since 2012. Cybersecurity is threatened in many ways in today’s global world, and the question of prevention is one that concerns each of us. Therefore, the European Cybersecurity Month provides information and invites everyone to learn more about cyber security and cyber threats and how to avoid them.

Cybersecurity – A global security movement

This annual campaign is, among others, organized by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity and the European Commission. Of course, this huge initiative also has a lot of support in order to reach a lot of people with this important topic. It is backed by the member states of the European Union, universities, NGOs, professional associations, universities, governments and private companies.

Not only is the safe use of the Internet given an understanding of, but there is also a range of events being offered to the public that inform each and everyone how to deal with their personal data in the World Wide Web.

The Cybersecurity Awareness Month is of course not just a European idea, but a global one. The question of cybersecurity is therefore also discussed in the USA and Canada. In the United States, the general motto is “if you connect it, protect it” – a motto that is becoming increasingly important, especially in the age of smart homes. This clearly hints at one’s own responsibility in the World Wide Web and is likely intended to strengthen the sense of duty.

Cybercrime as a serious threat

In the end, cybercrime is an invisible, global enemy that is lurking online. Everyone of us is interconnected when accessing the global net, which means that disclosing information about one person can quickly be fatal for another one. In the worst case, an entire company can be affected. A reason to think twice about what you click, right?

The European Cybersecurity Month is generally about raising people’s awareness, because the protection of personal data in a global and predominantly digital world is becoming more and more important. Especially, because the dangers on the Internet show increasing numbers. Ultimately, of course, everyone is responsible for the amount of data that is published on the internet. Hashtags on Facebook and Twitter, such as # ThinkB4UClick or #BeCyberSmart, indicate this responsible behaviour on the World Wide Web.

Covid-19 and digitization – More caution required online

In times of Covid-19, an even greater number of people are online. Corona virus warning apps are used, jobs are mainly done online and from home, and more and more purchases are made on the internet in order to reduce the risk of infection. Contact with the outside world is largely avoided. This is why it is now all the more important that we think about a proper handling on the Internet all the more.

Due to the increasing digital networking of the home – or rather the “smart home”– more and more devices are connected to the IoT (Internet of Things). These smart devices require good, as well as safe installation and regular maintenance, from the user. This increases the responsibility for the individual with each new device. With many simple proprietary solutions in particular, end users have to set up their own cloud accounts and connect them to one another. In addition, the end user often has to take responsibility for installing security updates on the system. A task that is often neglected in everyday life. This naturally increases the risk of data exposure or misconfigurations – a topic that is particularly important when it comes to sensitive video data.

Why is this month important for yourVcam?

For yourVcam, cyber and data security comes first, which is why the month of Cybersecurity Awareness is of particular importance. yourVcam is designed in a special way so that the end user does not have to worry about security updates. They are automatically imported into the system. In addition, yourVcam allows the use of cameras from different manufacturers as long as they support a certain minimum standard of security and can communicate via the ONVIF protocol. This is the case with all well-known camera manufacturers for whom cybersecurity is a priority.

In addition, yourVcam stores the customer / video data securely in a data centre in Switzerland. This meets the highest standards of Swiss data protection. The customer therefore knows exactly where his personal data is safely stored.

Proprietary video surveillance – A different kind of data storage

However, this is different with the proprietary variant of video surveillance. With the proprietary variant, it is not at all clear where the customer’s data is kept, how secure the cameras are and whether someone unauthorised could get access to the video files. This is a clear disadvantage at a time when people mostly work online and security should be mandatory.

The “Cybersecurity Awareness Month” is a thought-provoking initiative and hopefully provokes our thoughts on how we deal with the Internet and what kind of data/information we publish there. YourVcam fully supports a well-considered behaviour on the Internet and the secure storage of personal data.

How responsible are you with your personal data online?