Momentum

The University of Dayton's “Cyber-Mindfulness” initiative was designed to build awareness about cyberattacks and equip faculty, staff and students with the ability to recognize and resist threats. In addition to regular — and creative — information updates, the campus community participated in training exercises and received faux phishing attacks to test their learning.

As a result of the inaugural “safe computing” campaign, the implementation team was named the outstanding technology team by Technology First, the region's premier IT trade association.

"We believe that UD has a unique approach to cybersecurity training embodied in the Cyber-Mindfulness initiative, wherein users are not seen as victims to be defended, but allies in defense of information assets," said Dave Salisbury, director of the University's Center for Cybersecurity & Data Intelligence. "We are reaching out across the campus to address the issue of cybersecurity."

In addition to raising awareness about cybersecurity, the Cyber-Mindfulness initiative saw positive, tangible results. The percentage of employees who said they would be able to recognize a suspicious email message increased 13%, for a total of 77%. In addition, the percentage of users who were tricked by a phish test to obtain their password dropped from 5.5% to just 0.5% after 14 months of the phish training program.