December 2, 2024
A game show, an escape room, an online puzzle challenge and a carnival. These were some of the varied activities that taught cybersecurity awareness in novel ways to more than 1,000 individuals across the University of Illinois campus in October.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month at Illinois was spearheaded by cybersecurity training and awareness staff in the Office of the CIO throughout October reaching more than 1,000 participants. This year’s theme—Play Today, Secure Tomorrow—challenged students, staff and faculty to learn cybersecurity tips they can apply to their digital lives at home, school and work.
Senior Cybersecurity Training Specialist Cindy McKendall explained that cybersecurity training does not have to be formal or written. “People can take in the lessons through play just as well as through more traditional training. With a variety of in person and online games we captured people’s attention and made it fun.”
The team brought back the annual Phish Market, where 500 students played games like Chum Buckets and spun the Wheel of Phish. To collect prizes, participants had to correctly answer cybersecurity questions.
New this year was a partnership with the National Cybersecurity Alliance and the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Universities from all over the Big Ten competed in an online cybersecurity gameshow for bragging rights. “We had great participation,” McKendall noted. “Those who joined from Illinois brought their cybersecurity game and we won third place from among those participating schools.”
The training team offered a digital escape room, where players used clues and solved puzzles to complete challenges about passwords and phishing. The event was in cooperation with the University of Illinois Springfield and participants from both campuses enjoyed the experience.
Also new for 2024 was “Passwordle”, a play on the popular word game, but designed to help you learn about secure passwords.
The university provides required quarterly cybersecurity training and regular awareness activities for students, faculty and staff to help maintain the safety of our resources, according to McKendall.
“There are an increasing number of digital threats, and you need to keep up. Bad actors out there are continually evolving their tools and tactics, so it is imperative we do the same. The more you are exposed to what could happen, the better prepared you are to avoid a scam, a phish, an accidental data disclosure and much more.”
Keep up with cybersecurity training information and modules online at Cybersecurity Training & Awareness Team – Privacy & Cybersecurity