Safer Internet Day, Feb 8th 2022

Every year on February 8th, the world comes together to celebrate Safer Internet Day (‘SID’). SID 2022 marks the 19th Safer Internet Day, and this year the overarching theme is: ‘together for a better internet.’ If you’re wondering how the day started, what it stands for, or how you can mark the occasion, look no further. In this article, we give you a quick intro to everything you need to know about the day and how we can all work towards a safer internet.

What is Safer Internet Day?

The day marks an occasion for raising awareness about creating an internet that is ‘safe and stimulating for everyone.’ The initiative calls on all internet users to work towards a safe internet that respects and protects its users. Though the day is aimed at all major stakeholders – whether parents, carers, educators, organizers, policy-makers or media representatives – there is also a more emphatic focus on young people and children.

Safer Internet Day sheds lights on key themes such as cyber-bullying, social networks, and digital identity. This is to encourage anyone who uses the internet to be aware of their role in protecting themselves and others as they navigate through digital spaces.

In tandem with the day, the Safer Internet Day organization runs educational campaigns that work to raise awareness about these issues, cultivating, in particular, initiative in young people around their use of the internet.

When did Safer Internet Day start?

Safer Internet Day was born out of an initiative started by the EU Safeborders project in 2004. It’s not celebrated in over 200 countries and territories across the globe.

Why is Safer Internet Day important?

With a burgeoning and constantly growing digital sphere comes both exciting innovation and new opportunity, as well as greater security threats. Safer Internet Day is important for this very reason. Raising awareness around the potential dangers, risks, and cyber-security threats that both individuals and organizations face on a daily basis is the first step to ensuring effective protective measures are put in place.

How organizations can celebrate safer internet day

Safer internet day is as much about cultivating internet safety practices for your organization as it is protecting other users of the internet. Here’s what your organization could do to celebrate:

Organize an event

If you’ve got the time and the resources, organizing a ‘safer internet day’ themed event can be a nice way to raise awareness within your organization. This could take the form of a panel discussion, and round table, or an interview taking internet safety as a broad theme. This is a great opportunity to make sure your employees are cyber-security aware and know about their responsibilities as users of your network.

Reassess your security protocols

Safer Internet Day is a good reminder to check the security protocols you have in place. Make sure that your IT infrastructure is watertight and prepared even for the worst-case scenario.

Make sure that you’ve implemented organization wide multi-factor authentication, a robust password policy, and that both you and your employees understand your cyber-security setup.

Inform yourself about the latest in cyber-security

To mark Safer Internet Day, take a moment to read up on the latest in cyber-security. This could include checking up on the latest regulatory obligations or the latest tech in the space. Keeping up to date is essential for making sure your cyber-security protocols are the strongest they can be.