This year’s campaign was a spy-themed adventure located in the virtual CyberVerse. Throughout the month, participants were tasked with enhancing their cyber skills to stop the malicious threat actor Anon.
It’s a Wrap!
Cyber Security Awareness Month 2023
Campaign Highlights
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Our Cyber Security Awareness Month Campaign had more than 63,600 site visits, a 36% increase from 2022!
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Ontario’s Cyber Security Division hosted the 4th annual Ontario Cyber Security Conference for the Broader Public Sector with over 370 in-person attendees and more than 900 virtual attendees!
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Weekly videos, games and articles focused on vital and current topics in cyber security, such as information sensitivity, phishing, password hygiene and ransomware to strengthen cyber knowledge.
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This year we launched the inaugural K-12 Zone, a specialized portal with interactive cyber security games, articles, videos, and quizzes geared towards K-12 Students!
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Throughout the month, we hosted several tabletop (TTX) exercises which focused on asset and data loss as well as password hygiene with over 340 attendees throughout our sessions!
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This year we hosted several events to raise awareness on the importance of cyber security such as the Cyber Security Game Show and the Day in the Life of an Ethical Hacker! Together, these events had over 250 attendees.
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This year we hosted our first-ever Hackathon for post-secondary students. The day-long event challenged over 90 students to stop a cyber attack and Halt the Hack!
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To raise awareness of the daily importance of cyber security, we brought back our annual social media campaign titled “#WhyCyber” featuring cyber professionals from across the OPS and BPS.
The rapid evolution of tools designed to harm our province and our people is a clear indicator that we must continue being vigilant, while promoting our vision for more resilient and secure networks whose protections extend to our most vulnerable sectors.
The Hon. Todd McCarthy – Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery
Our annual Cyber Security Awareness Month campaign is a great way to increase your cyber knowledge, be more resilient and stay cyber safe – a core foundation for service delivery today and in the future.
Mohammad Qureshi – Corporate Chief Information Officer, GovTechON
Safe, secure access to online services is part of our ministry’s commitment to service excellence…It takes all of us, working together, to be cyber secure.
Renu Kulendran – Deputy Minister, Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery
Within Ontario, we have millions of data packets flowing in and out of the fingertips of Ontarians every day. Having a proper system in place to safeguard and protect this information is more important than ever.
Daniela Spagnolo – Chief Information Security Officer, Ontario’s Cyber Security Division
Why Cyber?
In other words, why is cyber security important? In today’s digital age, much of our daily life occurs online. From social media to online shopping, the number of interactions we spend online make us more vulnerable to cyber threats. As we move towards a more digitized public sector, cyber security remains vital to maintaining cyber resilience and protecting the people of Ontario.
Did you know that fraud and scams are the most common type of cybercrime in Canada? In 2022, there were more than 70,000 reports of fraud in Canada in 2022 amounting to over $530 million stolen.
Every day in Ontario, government and private sector organizations are continuously fighting cyber crime to keep their customers and citizens safe. With the increased reliance on technology for work, education and businesses, it is essential to keep up with cyber security trends and threats, particularly as human error remains the leading cause of cyber breaches. By improving your cyber skills and knowledge, you are helping to keep Ontario cyber secure.
These days we work online, we shop online, and we stay connected online. And Ontarians increasingly access services they need online. For these reasons, it is more important now than ever that we have all the tools we need to stay safe online.
The Honourable Kaleed Rasheed, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery
As Ontarians navigate an increasingly online world, they will rely on our government and organizations to protect them from digital threats. That is why we must continue to make the resilience of Ontario’s cyber defenses a shared priority.
Rhonda Bunn, Chief Information Security Officer, Ontario’s Cyber Security Division
Cyber security is, after all, a matter that impacts virtually every aspect of the work we do for our communities, and especially our delivery of critical services to Ontarians.
The Honourable Kaleed Rasheed, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery
Ontario’s 2023 Cyber Security Conference for the Broader Public Sector
To kickstart Cyber Security Awareness Month 2023, the OPS held its 4th annual cyber security conference on October 10th and 11th. This year was the first conference to be held over the course of two days serving more than 370 in-person attendees and over 900 virtual attendees! Participants attended engaging sessions on topics such as The Changing Role of Today’s Cyber Leaders, Enhancing the Role of Insurance in Cyber Risk Management, and Establishing Trust Post-Breach led by cyber experts from across the country. This year’s conference also featured specialized sector sessions for critical broader public sectors including health, higher education, K-12 education, municipalities, transportation, and social services. Throughout the event, attendees were also invited to participate in networking sessions and to foster connections and collaborate cross-sector to strengthen Ontario’s cyber security posture.
Miss the conference? No need to worry! You can watch all of the conference sessions online on the Cyber Security Ontario past conferences page.
ORION firmly believes that we are at our strongest when we stand together, united as a community and province. In this spirit of unity, we draw upon the collective wisdom and expertise of our diverse partners, like the Centre of Excellence, and our community to address the challenges of cybersecurity in an era of rapid technological evolution. ORION is honored to have been a partner for the 2023 Cybersecurity conference and contribute to Cyber Security Month. Attending the conference allowed us to continue working with professionals from a range of institutions and sectors, to foster collaboration, promote knowledge sharing, and emphasize that cyber threats affect us all regardless of our organization or sector. This community-driven approach is the foundation of our strength and innovation in the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape.
Alfonso Licata, President and CEO of ORION
Partner Successes
Cyber Security Awareness Month is an international campaign held annually to help raise awareness about the importance of cyber security. We would like to thank our partners for their continued support by celebrating their Cyber Month success and achievements!
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (GetCyberSafe.ca)
Get Cyber Safe is the lead for Cyber Security Awareness Month (Cyber Month) in Canada. And at Get Cyber Safe, every month is Cyber Security Awareness Month! We inform Canadians about cyber security best practices year-round, and we especially look forward to each October when we work with dedicated champions from all sectors across the country. This year’s Cyber Month theme was “Step up your cyber fitness” to help Canadians identify, react and respond to online threats by taking small and easy steps.
Coding for Veterans
The Coding for Veterans program has continued to grow throughout 2023. This past summer, they hosted the 1st annual Top Gun Cyber Week on the campus of the University of Ottawa. This event brought together the top cyber students for a week-long competition of simulated exercises to reflect real-world scenarios. In addition to the University of Ottawa, partners included Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and CDW. In September, Coding for Veterans welcomed their 500th student into the Coding for Veterans program. It has been a jam-packed year, and it is anticipated that this will continue into 2024.
ORION
ORION is dedicated to collaborating with universities and colleges through the Ontario Cybersecurity Higher Education Consortium, also referred to as ON-CHEC. ON-CHEC is a consortium of 42 Ontario colleges and universities, supported by ORION, who together bring affordable cybersecurity guidance, programs, and services to elevate their collective cybersecurity posture. This year, ORION proudly introduced the ORION Shared Security Operations Centre, also known as ON-SSOC, which is a community-driven platform that offers institutions comprehensive threat detection and proactive protection from cyberattacks. ORION also enhanced the Cybersecurity Awareness Training (CAT) platform and ORION Community Training to better serve our community’s evolving needs. ORION continues to work with provincial institutions on the National Cybersecurity Assessment (NCA), which helps them determine their cybersecurity posture. ORION is unwavering in its commitment to collaboratively strengthen the cybersecurity resilience of the higher education community.
Association of Municipalities of Ontario / Local Authority Services (AMO/ LAS)
AMO LAS was pleased to participate in the Government of Ontario’s 2023 Cyber Security Conference as part of the Municipal Sector session. The conversation was engaging and multi-faceted with a range of topics covered, including cyber insurance and where municipalities can look for support, including a new incident response program from LAS. AMO LAS were also pleased to participate at the conference tradeshow to meet and learn from a variety of stakeholders in the broader public sector on their cyber security efforts.
Events centered around Cyber Security month are instrumental in building awareness around cyber issues that we face in our daily lives. The Ontario Cyber Security Centre of Excellence does an excellent job of partnering with industry to execute on this mission.
Coding for Veterans
Thank you to our over 365 Cyber Month champions that helped make this year’s campaign a tremendous success.
Get Cyber Safe
AMO LAS is pleased to announce a new program created to help municipalities manage cyber incidents. Launched in April of 2023, the Cyber Incident Management for Ontario Municipalities program (CIMOM) is designed to help municipalities of any size create capacity for incident response using a team of cyber security experts. To learn more, please go to Cyber Incident Management for Ontario Municipalities (CIMOM) | LAS.
AMO/LAS
Cybersecurity is not just a concern solely for IT departments; rather it is a collective responsibility. Each one of us bears a role in safeguarding our sensitive data and intellectual property, and we cannot do it alone. As we look towards the future where the role of artificial intelligence will become more prevalent in our daily lives, the stakes grow even higher. By working collectively and investing in robust cybersecurity measures, we can harness the transformative potential of AI while guarding against the threats it may pose. Cyber Security Month gives us the tools to work together and build a cyber-safe province.
ORION
Your Cyber Journey Continues!
Thank you to all our participants for attending our 2023 Cyber Security Awareness Month Campaign. Although October has come to an end, your journey as a Cyber Agent isn’t over! We encourage you to put your cyber security skills to practice by implementing them into your daily work and personal life. And if you haven’t started yet- don't worry! The Cyber Security Awareness Month materials will remain available beyond October on the Cyber Security Ontario Portal.
Are you an elementary or secondary school student, the parent of a student, an educator, or K-12 staff member? If so, we encourage you to check out the tips for becoming a cyber agent in the brand-new K-12 Zone!
If you have any questions about cyber security or this year’s campaign, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at cybersecurity@ontario.ca.
Keep Engaged!
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Visit the frequently to stay in the know! Cyber Security Portal frequently to stay in the know!
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Watch our eLearning modules on the Cyber Security Ontario Learning Portal.
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Keep up to date by registering to join our Community of Practice.
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Check out the recommendations of Ontario’s Cyber Security Expert Panel!
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Stay on top of cyber threats by checking our Cyber Alerts and Advisories!
Partners
