RUG babies win SURF security award

13 February 2014

The University of Groningen has won the SURF Security Award 2014. The prize is awarded annually to a person or organization that works on the improvement of information security, privacy protection or the counteracting of cybercrime in an inspiring and proactive way. The University of Groningen has been awarded the prize for its awareness campaign ‘Your bytes are your babies, protect what's precious, keep IT safe!’, designed to draw the attention of staff to the importance of information security.

Attractive example

The prizegiving ceremony was held on Thursday 13 February during the annual SURFibo/SURFcert conference in Utrecht. The jury were full of praise about the originality of the campaign. ‘The idea of using dolls and the slogan “Your bytes are your babies, protect what's precious, keep IT safe!” to draw attention to the importance of information security is very original and an attractive example in the area of awareness.’ The prize is eternal fame and a sum of € 2500.

Shake-up

Project leader Gerrit van Dijk of the University is delighted with the award. ‘This is confirmation for me and my colleagues Willemieke Baan and Koen Verelst that we have chosen the right approach. The campaign has resulted in the necessary shake-up and has been very effective. We can see that staff awareness has improved. I consider the prize as encouragement to continue reminding staff of the importance of information security.’

Keep IT safe

With the slogan ‘Your bytes are your babies, protect what’s precious’, in October last year the University of Groningen launched a campaign to raise staff awareness of the importance of information security. Baby dolls were distributed across the University, each with an illustration of a padlock. A huge inflatable baby was placed at the Academy Building. All staff were sent an eerily accurate phishing mail with the request that they enter their personal details. The effect was immediate – many staff members opened the mail and entered their personal details. This was the starting shot in an information campaign informing staff via workshops and mails of the importance of information security. The campaign was very successful and increased the awareness of staff.

Last modified:14 September 2021 1.06 p.m.

Share this Facebook LinkedIn

View this page in: Nederlands