Cyber Ambassadors

The Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced the winners of a contest designed to garner new ideas to improve the public's cybersecurity awareness and literacy.

The National Cybersecurity Awareness Challenge called on industry experts and the public to develop ways to enhance awareness of cybersecurity and safeguard the nation's computer systems and networks from attacks. The contest, which was announced in March, received more than 80 proposals, from which seven were selected and recognized at a White House ceremony on Wednesday. The winning proposals will help inform the National Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign, which will kick off in October 2010 as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Click here to view the list of winners. What I found most interesting is Melissa Short's proposal to create a cybersecurity ambassador program, which DHS says will be integrated into the 2010 national campaign. It will be interesting to see what the ambassador program looks like and whether it uses current cyber workers to increase awareness and recruit new cyber professionals to the federal workforce.