On Monday, June 1, China officially started moving on its next step towards improving the nation's protection from cyber attacks when it began the second Cyber Security Week. This program aims to help raise public awareness and how people could take steps to avoid falling victim to cybercrime.

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The weeks-long event was initiated by the Chinese ministries of education and public security, as well as the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and other leading state departments. It aims to help the general public to better understand their role in fighting and protecting themselves against online threats. Teenagers, in particular, are the main focus of this year's event, according to CAC head Lu Wei.

Public awareness is just one of the many aspects covered by China's overall cybersecurity plan. A white paper released on Chinese cyberspace military strategy mentioned that "cyberspace has become a new pillar of economic and social development, and a new domain of national security." Similarly, Chinese financial and economic institutions have also taken steps to promote a more advanced and secure online system.

According to the Shanghai Daily, the opening event included a statistical report regarding China's public cybersecurity awareness. A study held by Hong Jingyi on approximately 254,000 Chinese netizens revealed that the country's internet users could easily fall victim to malwares or security system breaches. The survey also revealed that about 81 percent of Chinese netizens rarely change their passwords, while a worrying 44 percent use easily-obtained information like their birthdays for their passwords. Some even use extremely common passwords like "123456."

In light of this cybersecurity awareness campaign, it's important to note that a strong password is one of the most important foundations of a secure online identity. Passwords, especially for sensitive data or financial information, should be at least 12 characters long, and contains a distinct combination of letters, numbers, and other characters. Changing passwords regularly is also strongly recommended.

Another important thing to consider is info sharing, especially via chats or emails. Online users should always double-check recipients before sending mail. It's also important to keep in mind that some chat services have very little protection against hackers, so passwords and other sensitive information should never be sent via these outlets.

Tagscybersecurity, public awareness campaign, cyber crime, china cybersecurity issues