M+E Daily

As SecureTheVillage continues its mission to educate, support and advocate for cybersecurity and data privacy, items on its agenda for 2023 include two new apps and an internship program, according to Stan Stahl, PhD, founder and president of the 501(c) (3) organization.

“SecureTheVillage started about six and a half years ago, and it was me and a bunch of friends that would get together regularly” about how to “bring cybersecurity to the masses,” he told MESA June 14, during an online discussion after the most recent SecureTheVillage online meeting.

SecureTheVillage is embarking on a mission to make Los Angeles the cyber-safest city in America. Its LA Cybersecure program is organizing  a trusted community of security technology, security and privacy management, cyber-law, cyber-insurance, financial services security, cyber-education, law enforcement, and others. … to take information security and privacy to the masses, to the people who need it to stay safe, to keep their businesses safe,” he said.

Part of “what we’re doing” is helping non-profit organizations and businesses, which he said is “vital” in terms of educating executive managers and helping them manage their IT security.

Not even including intellectual property theft, it’s estimated that “cybercrime and cleaning up afterwards cost this city $44 billion in 2021, which is $12,000 a person” in L.A., he said.

Another area that SecureTheVillage is focused on is what it calls the “consumer market – the residents … families and individuals,” to educate them on “not just security but also their privacy and helping them manage that,” he explained.

“Still in the planning stage,” although there have been meetings to discuss it already, is helping to create intern programs for students, he went on to say. The idea is to “put an intern program together where students can gain employable technology skills by providing help desk support to residents” on security and privacy, he explained.

That stands to be a “win-win-win-win,” he said, explaining: “The kids are getting the training that they need so that they can get internships from potential employers. The community college is getting a win because they’re helping their kids as are the nonprofits and the residents who are helped by these kids.” This makes it a win for the community and also for SecureTheVillage, he added.

It’s unclear when the internship program will launch, he acknowledged. But he said: “I’d like to move these forward as fast as we can.”

Also, “we’re coming out with two apps” for the iPhone and Android, he disclosed. “One will be geared towards the security professional. The other will be geared towards residents, families, you name it. Each will have in their own domains a set of important things to pay attention to in cybersecurity.”

On the management side, the focus is “right out of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework,” which he said “we’re importing … into the tool.” On the resident side, “we currently have a ‘how hackable are you’ quiz on our website with five questions” that they’re expanding for the app, he told MESA. Users will score themselves on 10-15 basic cybersecurity and privacy practices and then the app will say, ‘okay, here’s the three most important things you need to pay attention to.”

An early-alpha version of the management app is available now, he said, noting: “On one level we’ve got to get it to Alpha Plus, which I’m working on, just to give some examples to people of how it works. “We should have that done the next couple of weeks,” he added.

The app for residents “will take longer,” he  said, noting SecureTheVillage is still finalizing the design.

“I think if you come back in two months, you’ll see a lot of that already rolled out,” and you’ll also see a new home web page on the SecureTheVillage website, he told MESA.