Cybersecurity Online Focus Group

Thank you for joining us today! We really appreciate having you with us to discuss cybersecurity. My name is Michelle, and I will be facilitating our discussion. Our conversation today will focus on cybersecurity—what you know about the topic, and your thoughts, feelings, and opinions about it.

First, some housekeeping:

• This research is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB Control #1601-0014; expiration date October 31, 2013) and subject to the guidelines of the Paperwork Reduction Act. An agency may not conduct or sponsor an information collection and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a current valid OMB Control No. The public reporting burden for this collection is estimated at 2 hours or 120 minutes, including the time to review instructions and completing and submitting the information. Send any comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspects of this collection of information, including suggestions for reduction burden to Bob Davis, Bob.Davis@hq.dhs.gov.

• Your participation in this research is completely voluntary.

• Your insights will be used to develop information and outreach materials that will help consumers like you understand how they can stay safe online.

• While there is no assurance of confidentiality, your name will not be associated with any of your responses. Additionally, we will not collect any information from you or any other sources that could identify who you are. At no point will I try to sell you anything or encourage you to take any action outside of your participation in this group.

• Please indicate that you agree to the Terms of Service. [Check box; see attached Terms of Service agreement document]

And, some ground rules:

• I know we will be typing our responses to each other, but please remember that the courtesy of conversation still needs to be maintained and I definitely want “to hear” from everyone.

• Even though there are no walls around us, this is still a safe room! There are no wrong answers—but there are different points of view. I want you to feel comfortable to express yourself because your diverse thinking is what makes you a unique and integral part of today’s discussion.

• At some point, I may need to move on to another area of discussion sooner than you might be ready, and I may have to cut a conversation short in the interest of time. If I do so, please know that it is not personal; I just want to get everything on the agenda that is planned while respecting the time you’ve allotted for us today.

Finally, I am counting on you today to help make the most out of our discussion today. I will be asking you to do your best to be creative and honest. So let me thank you in advance for all your hard work—thank you!

1. What does the term cybersecurity mean? What comes to mind when you hear or read the term cybersecurity?
   Close your eyes for a second and think of the term cybersecurity – describe the images that come into mind.

2. What do you think are the issues concerning cybersecurity, if any?
   How can they affect you?

those around you?

national security?

3. What role do you think individuals have in maintaining online safety for everyone?

4. Who else do you think has a role? What role do they play?

5. What do you think the government’s role is in keeping the public safe from online security threats?

   • How much responsibility do you think the government has when it comes to educating the public about cybersecurity?

6. Have you seen any messages about cybersecurity? What were they? Where did you see them? Do you know who created/sponsored the messages?

7. Do you think these messages were:

   • Meaningful or useful?

   • Informative?

   • Timely?

   • Accurate?

   • Credible or reliable?

Why or why not?

Did any of these messages encourage you to change your behavior? Why/why not? How so?

8. Are you satisfied with how and how often the government communicates with the public about cybersecurity? (PROBE IF NECESSARY: do you think the information is useful, accurate, timely, credible, reliable? Why or why not?)

9. What can the government do to improve the information it communicates with you about cybersecurity?

10. What do you think would be the most effective way for the government to communicate these messages to the public? (PROBE IF NECESSARY: social media, web banners, radio, print, tv, newspaper, etc.)

Why?