Ontario Heroes Launch Activities with Talk on Cyber Security & Community Giving

When we announced our launch a few days ago, many supporters had one question.

What is the connection between volunteering and cyber security?

As cyber threats increase, how protected are we?

The first quarter of 2020 saw the world adopt social distancing for survival. The rapid acceleration of digitization that followed has made data the lifeblood of organizations and businesses. Protecting this data, managing the risks associated with it, and making sure organizations comply with data and privacy laws have now taken a bigger role than ever before.

In this new world order, cyber threats are mounting. Individuals are affected by a wave of increasing cyber threats.

While the world is absorbed in addressing the health and economic threats posed by COVID-19, cybercriminals world over may be capitalizing on the crisis. 

Cyber security threats to healthcare

As health and medical consultation is one of our core services, we try to gather intelligence of the latest cyber threats in healthcare. 

A report by CSO Online exposes some of the threats that healthcare faced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to their report, malware purveyors sent out phishing emails while masquerading as healthcare organizations and even launched attacks against hospitals and other critical facilities.

In April, Google reported that every day, Gmail blocked more than 100 million phishing emails. “During one week, we saw 18 million daily malware and phishing emails related to COVID-19. This is in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related daily spam messages.”

In April 2020, it was reported that legions of cybersecurity volunteers rallied to protect hospitals during COVID-19 crisis. 

In this scenario, organizations like Ontario Heroes need to think differently about protecting our data and adopt strategies to become and remain cyber secure. 

Virtual Volunteering and Cyber Security

Virtual volunteers offer support and services over the internet. Therefore, it’s important to understand the cyber risks associated with online services and learn from experts about precautions to safeguard and protect the data and privacy of individuals.  

Data breaches, cyberbullying, online scams are just a few cyber threats that we come across. We come across many such stories that affect children, adults and seniors alike. But, what can we do to help our community be safe and secure online? 

If you are interested to know more about cyber security, learn it from our volunteer experts. Ontario Heroes is organizing this program to create awareness and to discuss more about the cyber security issues of our times.

MPP Deepak Anand will open the session with his address and cyber security expert Sangameswaran Manikkyam Iyer will talk to the team on the ever-increasing significance of cyber security. 

As part of the Ontario Heroes’ launch, let us also tune into insights from our Chair, Prasad Nair, on community giving and the importance of volunteer work.

See you all there.

-Minu Mathew

(The author can be reached at [email protected] for any comments)