WELCOME
In September 2002 the President of the United States chose the Bay Area
as the launch-pad for his National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace – a call
to every business and citizen to play their role in protecting their country
from the menace of cybercrime.
In October 2002 the Bay Area community of Walnut Creek responded with
a promise: to make security awareness a top priority; to create a community-led
strategy to secure a community; and to share that strategy with communities
across America so that no community would be left behind in the fight
against cybercrime.
We kept that promise.
Welcome to Think Security First!, the first community-based national
cyber security awareness campaign, created to help every community in
America get the best from technology without increasing their exposure
to cybercrime.
Beginning in August
2003 Walnut Creek became a center of security education. All residents,
businesses, schools, and government offices started enjoying a full program
of free security education, including security awareness kits, seminars
and workshops, online education, the creation of security special interest
groups, and the training of the entire police force in combating the growing
problem of identity theft.
And the lessons we
learned in our city are being used to create a security education blueprint
that can be adopted by every city and community across the United States
and beyond. The Think Security First! program will be shared with more
than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce across America throughout 2005 so that
every community, regardless of size, will have the opportunity to share
in our success.
Our goal in Walnut
Creek is not to make our city and community hack-proof, but instead to
help our residents, businesses, and schools reduce their vulnerability
to cybercrime by learning to Think Security First!
Think Security First!
is organized and run by the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit
organization that took a lead in cyber security by launching
the nation's first Chamber of Commerce Cyber Security Day.
None of this would
be possible without the commitment of our sponsors, including Microsoft,
McAfee, SBC, and Cisco, and we thank them all for their enthusiasm and
support in this unique community initiative.
Jay Hoyer
President
The Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce
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