In this champion toolkit:
- What is Get Cyber Safe?
- What is Cyber Security Awareness Month?
- What's new this year?
- Why become a champion?
- How you can get involved
- CSAM on social media
- Internal messages
- Contact Get Cyber Safe
What is Get Cyber Safe?
Get Cyber Safe is a public awareness campaign led by the Communications Security Establishment, with advice from its Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, to inform Canadians about the simple steps they can take to stay safe online. Get Cyber Safe is the Canadian lead for Cyber Security Awareness Month.
What is Cyber Security Awareness Month?
Cyber Month is an internationally recognized campaign held every October to inform the public of the importance of cyber security.
What is new this year?
For #CyberMonth2022, we’re fighting phishing to ruin a cyber criminal's day. Phishing is a cyber criminal’s attempt to get sensitive information by pretending to be a legitimate sender like a bank or a government organization. Phishing is the fourth most common scam in Canada. If you have an email address or a phone number, use social media, or browse the internet, chances are you’ve received a phishing message.
We’ve divided the campaign into weekly themes. Each week throughout October, we’ll examine how to recover from phishing scams, how to recognize them, how to prevent them, and how to help others stay safe.
October 3-7
Week 1: You got phished
- How to tell if you have been hacked/phished
- Change passwords and upgrade passwords to passphrases
- Enable anti-virus software
- Enable automatic software updates
- Back up your data
- Report the scam
October 10-14
Week 2: Where, why and how it happens
- Types of phishing (email, phone, online shopping, gaming, social media and direct messages)
- Phishing trends (banking, romance scams, event-based scams)
- Social engineering
- Malware and ransomware
October 17-21
Week 3: Prevention
- Use strong and unique passwords and passphrases
- Use a password manager
- Enable multi-factor authentication
- Regularly back up your important data
October 24-28
Week 4:Putting it all together
- Learn to spot the signs of a phishing campaign
- Share resources with others
Learn more about #CyberMonth2022 themes
Why become a champion?
Champions are key to the success of CSAM and the Get Cyber Safe campaign. The more Canadians learn about staying safe online, the more resilient we’ll all be against cyber threats. The best way to raise awareness about cyber security is to have more organizations involved — and that includes partners like you! Being a cyber month champion helps show your audience that you care about their cyber security.
How you can get involved
Being a cyber month champion is simple and impactful. We have prepared some helpful resources to get you started right away — here’s what you can do:
- Plan an internal message to your organization about Cyber Security Awareness Month.
- Plan social media content for your organization. Use our pre-crafted messages as a start, and remember to use #GetCyberSafe, #CyberMonth2022, #Cyber and #Cybersecurity.
- Update your profile photos and social media headers. The ones in our partner resources can be co-branded!
- Show us what you’re doing – reach out to collaborate, tag us in your posts and share your successes with us!
Cyber Security Awareness Month on social media
Want to promote cyber month on your social media accounts? We’re here to make it as easy as possible with pre-crafted posts for use on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, plus accompanying social media graphics.
Create your own content
Feeling creative and want to draft your own content? Great! We encourage you to use our other Cyber Security Awareness Month resources to help with your own content development, or share any of our existing infographics, blog posts and videos.
Don’t forget to use #CyberMonth2022 or tag us when you post to be part of the conversation!
Social media tips and tricks
- Use images when you can. Posts with relevant images get more views, likes and comments than ones that don’t.
- Include video content. Get Cyber Safe has many video resources you can share with your audience.
- Ask questions. Engaging content like quizzes and polls are great for keeping your audience interested and engaged.
Cyber Security Awareness Month champion social media posts
Month-long
- October is #CyberMonth2022. Here at [insert organization name], protecting Canadians’ cyber security is important to us, so we’ve committed to being a @GetCyberSafe champion. Follow us this month to find out how we #GetCyberSafe!
- October is #CyberMonth2022! We’re doing our part to ruin a cyber criminal’s day by learning more about phishing at GetCyberSafe.ca/phishing
Week 1: You got phished
- If you fall for a phishing scam, don't panic. Here's how to ruin a cyber criminal's day if they just ruined yours:
- Change your passwords
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Report the scam
- #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- If a cyber criminal hacks your account, contact the organization to let them know. You can also #GetCyberSafe (and ruin a cyber criminal's day in the future) by updating your passwords, installing anti-virus software and enabling automatic software updates. #CyberMonth2022
- You have the power to prevent future phishing scams and ruin a cyber criminal's day by spotting the signs this #CyberMonth2022! Be on the lookout for suspicious messages, typos and pixelated images to #GetCyberSafe.
For organizational use
- [insert organization name] online account has been compromised? Contact us at [insert contact information] to let us know. #CyberMonth2022 #GetCyberSafe
- If you receive any communication from us that sounds suspicious, don’t provide any personal information. Contact us at [insert contact info] to ensure you’re speaking to a [insert organization name] representative. #CyberMonth2022
Week 2: Where, why and how it happens
- Getting familiar with the signs of a phishing scam, like:
- Urgent/threatening language
- Incorrect sender email addresses
- Suspicious attachments
- can help you #GetCyberSafe this #CyberMonth2022 and ruin a cyber criminal's day!
- Learning about types of phishing, like smishing (phishing over text), spear phishing (a targeted form of phishing) and whaling (which often occurs at work) can help protect you and ruin a cyber criminal’s day! #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- Cyber criminals trick you into sharing your personal info by using social engineering. You can #GetCyberSafe and ruin a cyber criminal's day by looking out for the signs of phishing and limiting what you share on social media. #CyberMonth2022
For organizational use
- At [insert organization name], when we contact you by email, we will never:
- Use threatening language
- Ask for payment by gift card
- Send an email from an account that doesn’t end in [“company.ca”]
- If a communication from us sounds suspicious, contact us at [insert contact info] to ensure you are speaking to a [insert organization name] representative. #CyberMonth2022 #GetCyberSafe
Week 3: Prevention
- #DYK password managers can help protect you from phishing? By helping you create strong and unique passwords, they make it tougher to hack your accounts (and ruin cyber criminals’ days at the same time). #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- Securing your accounts with multi-factor authentication (MFA), like an email or code by text, can stop a cyber criminal’s plan to break in — even if they have your password. #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- Receive a phishing email at work? Report it to your IT team to help your coworkers #GetCyberSafe and recognize the signs of phishing — and ruin a cyber criminal’s day in the process. #CyberMonth2022
For organizational use:
- You can #GetCyberSafe and protect yourself from phishing scams by enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your [insert company name] online account. Visit your account settings to get started! #CyberMonth2022
- How strong is your [insert company name] online account password? A strong and unique password makes it tougher to hack your accounts (and ruin cyber criminals’ days at the same time). #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- Have you received a phishing email pretending to be from [insert company name]? Report it to [insert contact info] — and ruin a cyber criminal’s day in the process. #CyberMonth2022
Week 4: Putting it all together
- Older adults are often targeted by phishing scams. Help them #GetCyberSafe and ruin a cyber criminal’s day by showing them the signs to spot a phishing message, like urgent or threatening language. #CyberMonth2022
- Kids can be targeted by phishing scams, like in online games with offers of free loot. Take time to ruin a cyber criminal’s day with your kids by pointing out the signs of phishing. #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- The things you post affect more than your follower count. Limit what you share online (or who can see it) to prevent cyber criminals from using your personal info against you in a phishing scam. #GetCyberSafe #CyberMonth2022
- Make learning about phishing fun with the Get Cyber Safe Agency workbook for kids! It’s a great way to teach kids cyber security basics — and have a blast while doing it: https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en/resources/get-cyber-safe-agency
Internal messages
It's Cyber Security Awareness Month!
How to fight phishing this Cyber Security Awareness Month
Contact Get Cyber Safe
Thanks for helping to keep Canadians safe by promoting cyber security! If you have any questions or concerns, or would like more information on the Get Cyber Safe campaign, please contact us:
Email: contact@cyber.gc.ca
Toll free: 1-833-CYBER-88 (1-833-292-3788)