Laura Palovuori
Johan Lugnet
Åsa Ericson
The Cybersecurity First Aid Clinic “CyberAkuten” was established as part of the Interreg Aurora project ISSUES to connect experts and non-experts in an informal, hybrid setting across the Swedish-Finnish border. Cybersecurity is essential, but effective communication can be difficult. This article offers reasoning and advice for improving project communication, making it more inclusive, and increasing its appeal. It also encourages everyone to rethink how they communicate and, in doing so, take small but meaningful steps toward greater inclusion and security.
If IT experts who are passionate about their field give a speech, you might spend hours listening to cybersecurity technologies. When you talk to staff about cybersecurity and its importance for following guidelines and policies, half of them tune out before you finish the first sentence. And when you discuss cybersecurity with your family or friends, you often see the blank look that says, ”That’s not something I care about right now.”
One grand challenge in cybersecurity is communication. Often, only those who are already interested will listen to or participate in events, but not those who really need more knowledge. Is there something we can do to reach a wider audience?
Communication has played a vital role in the Interreg Aurora project ISSUES, a collaboration between Luleå University of Technology and Centria University of Applied Sciences, Pietarsaari Campus. As a result, we established the Cybersecurity First Aid Clinic. The clinic has effectively involved experts and staff from various organizations. It provides cross-border and hybrid participation — both online and in meeting rooms in Pietarsaari, Finland, and Luleå, Sweden. We found that the hybrid format allowed participants to choose how to join each time, and providing online access also linked the sites in Sweden and Finland, enabling cross-border conversations. We also ensured accessibility at the sites. Participants could join from various local venues around Pietarsaari/Jakobstad region. Collaboration with the DistanceLAB project (funded by Interreg BSR) and IUC Norr helped facilitate access from sites in Luleå and Skellefteå. We believe that teamwork and collaboration make events more engaging and help reach people who are not actively seeking cybersecurity events.
The clinics all follow the same format: a topic, a presentation by an invited expert, and then an informal conversation where questions are encouraged and explored. Participants value the opportunity to join the conversations. It also helps improve understanding or at least sparks interest in cybersecurity.
The clinic utilizes the project team’s expertise and networks, enabling experts from both partners to contribute to the selected topics. As a result, the topics include, among others, risk management, blockchain, mobile security, netiquette, and security certifications. Twenty clinics have been organized and conducted during the project time.
A spin-off of the clinics, IT-Forum Jeppis, is held in Pietarsaari. The forum was created because IT managers participating in clinics expressed a need for in-depth discussions about their specific challenges and efforts. One company even offered to provide coffee if the ISSUES project would organize the forum. Finally, three invitations were sent out by the project. Two Forums were hosted by local companies. It was quite a lot of coffee to serve, since more than twenty IT professionals from both large and small companies along with IT managers from surrounding municipalities attended the forum. The third forum was hosted by Centria in cooperation between Issues-project and Centria’s IT-teachers.
So, how have we communicated about the Cybersecurity First Aid Clinic? And how have we encouraged and supported participation? Here are some practical tips.
The announcement about the clinics is an important subject to actively address. To reach a wider audience, the ad’s color scheme is more important than you might think. Colors like dark blue or black are generally viewed as masculine, while pink is seen as feminine. If the scheme uses a mix of colors, it is often perceived as more neutral. Representations of people are another important aspect to consider. Fair representation of both males and females is a good start, as is an even representation of older and younger individuals, along with an ethnically diverse distribution. When indicating that an event is targeting both males and females, the ad should be carefully considered in terms of gender and inclusion. Since ads are often shared on social media nowadays, their appearance is essential. People often scroll through the feed quickly, and in that brief, snap judgment, we usually decide what to focus on based on what catches our eyes.
In addition to designing the announcements, we carefully focused on the wording. We tried to use a language that would attract not only IT or security professionals but also those who would not usually see themselves as part of the cybersecurity audience. Reaching a wider audience was easier through collaboration with other projects and networks, such as DistanceLAB, Cybersecurity Node North, and ABC in cybersecurity for SMEs. These partnerships helped share information through their channels, provided access to experts and speakers, and, in some cases, shared costs for larger events. People may be more interested when information comes from networks they are familiar with.
The underrepresented gender in cybersecurity communication is females, although this does not reflect current practices in all organizations. The project is organizing and hosting an annual open event Cyber North at Vetenskapens Hus in Luleå attracting more than 100 participants.
The event held in May 2025 intentionally featured six female speakers out of seven. All of them are experienced experts in their fields. We invited one male because we set a project requirement to avoid having only single-gender speakers on stage at our events, but also because he is an expert in the topic. What we did not do was market the event as one that highlights women in the area, mainly because no event with male speakers does that.
Social media algorithms are challenging. Generally, they are used to suggest and promote similar topics that you are already interested in. This can be avoided by adding alternative terms. Instead of just cybersecurity, terms such as information security, digital safety, safe digitalization, or similar terms can be used. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency in Finland talks about digital courage in some cases. Alternative terms indicate the wider meaning of security and that it concerns everyone.
Key takeaways: Use inclusive visuals, such as colors, pictures, or figures, in advertisements and invitations. Offer hybrid participation when cross-border communication is valued. Diversify terminology to reach a wider audience, especially when communicating via social media.
Laura Palovuori
RDI Expert
Centria University of Applied Sciences
p. 040 626 0028
Johan Lugnet
Associate Professor, Cyber security
Luleå University of Technology
Åsa Ericson
Professor, Cyber security
Luleå University of Technology
