BY Carl Patten II, Vice President of Information Technology, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta & Mat Mathews, Chief Technology Officer, Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Recently, a 12-year-old teen in Georgia made national news after disappearing from her driveway. The teen was eventually located in Ohio.[1]Reading stories such as the 12-year-old’s incident in Georgia, especially if you’re a parent, guardian, or someone with young children in their families, creates a great alarm regarding the physical safety of our youth. In parallel, as workers in the global economy, we’re used to reading stories highlighting cybersecurity about ransomware, hacking, or system vulnerabilities that impact organizational systems. Boys and Girls Clubs of America Movement, safety is our Number 1 priority, and our mandate is to provide safe environments in physical and virtual spaces for youth. The incident involving the 12-year-old underscores the importance of our mission. It’s a stark reminder of why the mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA) is crucial to ignite the unlimited potential of kids and teens by creating safe, inclusive, and engaging environments.
As senior technology leaders within the Boys & Girls Clubs Movement, we realize the importance of cybersecurity in securing safe environments for America’s youth. Before becoming CTO, Mat served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at BGCA following a ransomware attack that not only brought our operations to a halt but also compromised the personal information of many of our young members, posing a significant hindrance to our ability to serve the young people who need us the most. We believe that a partnership between Atlanta businesses and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta can be mutually beneficial. Businesses can enhance their corporate social responsibility and public image, while we can strengthen our cybersecurity measures and better protect our youth online. As we prepare for Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, we wanted to use this opportunity to expand the breadth of awareness.
Most often, Cybersecurity Awareness Month highlights technology practitioners who geek out daily about cyber incidents. This year, Boys & Girls Clubs has decided to raise awareness within our Clubs and amongst parents. Safety and cybersecurity require proactive exercises; the reactive stance could be too little too late. One of the most critical aspects of technology leadership today is crisis management—it’s not a matter of if but when a security incident requires your attention. As youth development organizations, we must be proactive in our posture. As youth development organizations, we must be proactive in our posture and implement these strategies to mitigate potential risks.
The Growing Importance of Cybersecurity
Often, Club executives call us to inform us of a cyber-attack or threat. Each time, we take the time to walk the executive through remediation steps and reach out to support organizations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Secret Service, and local authorities. Consistently, the outreach occurs after an incident has occurred. The focus must shift to proactive monitoring and understanding potential threats that impact our staff, systems, and, most importantly, members. In a world where “digital transformation” is a hot topic, cybersecurity must be a table stakes in transformative planning.
At BGCMA, we have taken several steps to ensure proactive monitoring:
- Tools are being utilized to monitor email communications and notify the organization of risks associated with clicking on harmful links;
- Each Club is outfitted with hardware and software security mechanisms to minimize members’ access to unauthorized sites or services;
- Training is conducted for staff to raise cybersecurity awareness;
- A security threat assessment is being conducted, pro bono, by Rausch Advisory Services to inform leaders of potential risks;
- Board governance has been increased by adding a standing Technology Committee to the corporate board earlier this year;
- A digital marketing campaign will launch in October to arm parents with tips to keep their children safe at home and
- Partnerships have been formed with leading technology organizations, ISACA, CompTIA, Google, and Cyversity
With a senior leader focused on cybersecurity, BGCA has ensured that all systems are safe with consistent training and monitoring. BGCA has instituted policies that safeguard the organization and provide consulting services to Clubs without senior technology leadership. Metro Atlanta is positioned for operational, programmatic, and fundraising transformation by having senior technology leadership. We would like to see more organizations treating technology as a business enabler and cybersecurity as a business necessity. We must provide tools that help simplify IT for these Clubs but not limit it to “the basics” and envision how technology and data will improve our service.
Tips for Keeping Our Kids Safe Online
With Ransomware attacks impacting four counties in Georgia this year—Fulton[2], Gilmer[3], Macon-Bibb[4], and Coffee[5]—it’s important that BGCMA considers how to keep our members’ data safe. We have safeguards to ensure the physical and virtual safety of personal information related to our members.
Keeping information safe is only part of the job. We must lean into keeping children safe online. There are a few things that parents can do to focus:
- Education & Awareness to teach safe habits to youth within the organization. Later this year, BGCMA will highlight children’s books on cybersecurity to foster education for our youngest members
- Parental Controls & Monitoring: Tools allow parents to monitor the content with which their children interact online. If you have internet at home, please consider creating a children’s profile or being willing to disconnect connectivity to youth devices at bedtime. Parents should create online accounts for their children so that they always have access.
- Promoting Health Digital Habits is critical to ensuring youth know their cyber profiles. Just like we teach our children “Stranger danger” when approached by an individual, it could be the difference that prevents a teen from seeking refuge in the arms of an evil cyber actor
- Communication is vital. Parents should consistently communicate with their kids about their online habits and friends and help them understand what content they have seen. Parents should also provide a safe space for children to communicate what they see online, just like they talk about what happens at school.
Strengthening Cybersecurity in Our Organizations
With the risk associated with cyber awareness, BGCA and BGCMA are raising our investment for technology. Cybersecurity insurance requires that we be more proactive to ensure safety our environments and facilities. Our proactive stance utilizes training and physical safety measures to guard our buildings, information, and people.
Building a Cybersecurity-Aware Community
Corporate involvement will become vital to creating a cyber-aware community. Our corporate partners can meet with our teams to help ensure that best practices and lessons are employed to keep the Club environment safe at all times. We would welcome any chance to speak with IT leadership or a CISO about opportunities and resources for BGCMA.
Corporations as the linchpin to social change can do a lot to help raise awareness about online cyber safety for youth. Thirty years ago, corporate response helped to curb cigarette smoking for youth. Today, protecting cyber environments could raise alerts about employees or staff who have access to malicious content like pedophilia or might use corporate PCs or networks to groom minors. The participation from Corporate America will keep more children safe at home and online because of the proactive monitoring of their corporate technology environments.
Call to Action: Empowering the Next Generation
Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta needs you as we take the following steps to build a cyber-resilient organization. The partnerships we have formed over the last year are expected to be transformational. You can help with several endeavors for scholarships, volunteers, and other technology-related initiatives:
- Help Us Provide Tech Scholarships – Our partnership with ISACA will provide scholarship support for members and staff who seek cybersecurity credentialing. BGCMA would love to see other corporate partners willing to step up and offer scholarships to our members in technology fields (e.g., computer science, cybersecurity, engineering, or architecture). We currently provide scholarships to seniors on their paths to college. Since college is not for everyone, your partnership could provide workforce development and scholarships in technology trades that escalate the path to work for our members and alumni.
- Volunteer at our Clubs – The most important thing anyone can give is time with our members. We want to see more volunteers from tech-related fields spend time in the Clubs with our members. ISACA aims to have 10% of its members volunteer with BGCMA. ISACA will credit those whose work relieves technical debt within the organization. You can volunteer to speak with our members about your career, or you can volunteer to help scale the infrastructure that protects our members every day. We have volunteer leadership opportunities to serve in multiple capacities and would welcome a conversation with your organization’s leadership.
- Host a Technology Camp – Each year, Kilpatrick Townsend hosts a Law Camp for our teens. One of our goals is to host annual technology boot camps in the summer. We are looking for partners who would be able to generate interest in our members to seek careers through short-term immersion and experiential learning in technology fields. Please let us know if you want to partner to bring this vision to life.
If you’re interested in partnering with us on any of these initiatives at Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, please contact BGCMA VP of Informational Technology Carl Patten II at cpatten@bgcma.org
[1] Tyler Fingert, “Maria Gomez-Perez Found Safe in Ohio, Guatemalan National Arrested,” Text.Article, FOX 5 Atlanta (FOX 5 Atlanta, July 25, 2024), https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/maria-gomez-perez-found-safe-search-missing-12-year-old-ends-after-57-days.
[2] “Georgia’s Largest County Is Still Repairing Damage From January Cyberattack,” US News & World Report, accessed September 12, 2024, //www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2024-03-01/georgias-largest-county-is-still-repairing-damage-from-january-cyberattack.
[3] “Ransomware Attack Halts Public Services in Gilmer County, Georgia,” accessed September 12, 2024, https://www.bitdefender.com/blog/hotforsecurity/ransomware-attack-halts-public-services-in-gilmer-county-georgia/?srsltid=AfmBOopmgoBBGwvHLP_katjZBCHJDp8EEFKvgkHeT–1Ev88otbYl-Xw%2F.
[4] sfoxsowell, “Cyberattack Hits Georgia County, Officials Take down Network, Phones,” StateScoop (blog), May 13, 2024, https://statescoop.com/cyberattack-macon-bibb-county-georgia-2024/.
[5] djohnson, “Cyberattack Hits Georgia County at Center of Voting Software Breach,” CyberScoop (blog), April 26, 2024, https://cyberscoop.com/cyberattack-hits-georgia-county-at-center-of-voting-software-breach/.
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