Representatives of synagogues and Jewish institutions from throughout the Los Angeles area attended a security briefing at the ADL office on August 20. ADL organizes security briefings annually to keep the Jewish community apprised of security information, especially preceding the High Holy Days. ADL also provides security alerts to Jewish institutions — as needed — throughout the year.
This year’s briefing focused on “Strengthening your Online Security” and featured Jonathan Vick, ADL’s Internet Technology Analyst for the Cyber Safety Center in ADL’s Center on Extremism and FBI Special Agent Nathan Shields. The two online safety experts were able to give practical advice to Jewish organizations about general online security as well as websites and social media.
ADL’s Cyber-Safety Action Guide was offered as a very practical resource.
Concerns about online security are high at Jewish institutions. Politically motivated hackers from the Arab world have targeted Jewish websites in the United States including synagogues in Pennsylvania and Texas.
The program also included ADL California Investigative Researcher Joanna Mendelson who spoke about “lone wolf ideology” and specifically in the context of the Kansas shootings earlier this year.
Participants gave high marks to the speakers, including comments in their evaluations such as: “Really good experts — knew their stuff” and “Speakers provided very useful tips that I will be implementing or enforcing.”
Security resources, including the ADL manual, Protecting Your Jewish Institution, are available to the community through the ADL website at http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/community-security/.