#Take5seconds: A1 gave an online master class on Internet safety to social workers all around Belarus

More than 500 social workers across Belarus took the online class on the basics of cybersecurity from A1. It was dedicated to the launch of the #Take5seconds nation-wide awareness campaign by A1, aimed at protecting A1 clients and all of Belarusian citizens from scammers.

The main goal of A1's #Take5seconds campaign is to inform as many people as possible about the ways of protecting their personal data, and to remind them not to rush things when it comes to following any instructions from strangers. The easiest way to protect yourself is to simply take a break and think for 5 seconds before clicking a random link, sending someone codes from an SMS, or answering a suspicious call coming from a messenger app.

Some of the most vulnerable categories of the population who most often fall victims to scammers are the elderly and people with disabilities. To make sure they have access to the crucial information, A1, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, issued a checklist that is now available for download on the safety.a1.by website. Printed versions of the checklist can be found in A1 stores and territorial social security centers throughout Belarus.

In order to raise the level of awareness in the field of cybersecurity, training has been organized for social workers who routinely interact with the elderly and people with disabilities to help them resolve issues related to the use of the Internet and mobile communications.

Thanks to the online broadcast, more than 500 social workers from over 160 social service organizations across the country mastered the basic knowledge of the fundamentals of Internet safety and received practical guidance for working in this field. Now they will be able to explain to the people under their care how to avoid fraud when searching for information or shopping online, where to download verified applications and which calls in messengers should never be answered.

A1, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, has been implementing the #ionline project for several years now. Within its framework, company employees give free classes on digital literacy in territorial social security centers. This has helped to raise the competence of more than 1,000 employees and volunteers of the social security system, and now A1 training will allow them to pay special attention to online safety issues.