The Messaging Convention was established in 2010 to unify online safety awareness across the globe with a common slogan - STOP.THINK.CONNECT. - and a universally recognised logo. In its first two years, national agencies of the United States of America and Canada have adopted the campaign for their own national efforts.

Delegates from Panama and Paraguay held a signing ceremony with the Messaging Convention during the Segurinfo Washington 2013 conference at the Organization of American States (OAS) Hall of the Americas on June 27, during which they completed memorandums of understanding under which these nations’ ministries would adopt the messaging campaign and deploy them in their respective countries.

APWG Secretary General Peter Cassidy, co-founder and one of three founding corporate directors of the convention, said, "Today, with the adoption of the STOP.THINK.CONNECT. campaign by Panama in Central America and Paraguay in South America, our convention presents a truly hemispheric co-operative enterprise against cybercrime.”

Eduardo Jaen, General Administrator of the Autoridad Nacional para la Innovación Gubernamental of Panama said, "Our organisation has worked for the last five years on the closure of the digital divide and making the technology work for our citizens throughout a number of projects, most notably broadband access, electronic transactions with the government and laptops for children in school. But all this effort would not mean as much if we don’t tackle the problem of cybersecurity, we consider this agreement to be a major step forward on bringing knowledge to our citizens on how to protect themselves from the threats imposed by this new connected reality."

"We are most honoured to be able to work with STOP.THINK.CONNECT. and look forward to develop and expand the message of cybersecurity in Latin America,” Mr. Jaen concluded.

Minister Executive Secretary Santiago Raul Vazquez of Paraguay’s Secretaría de Tecnologias de la Información y Comunicación (SETICs) said, “It is an honour for our country to participate in and adhere to the PARA.PIENSA.CONECTATE. [STOP.THINK.CONNECT. in Spanish] campaign, which is instrumental as we continue to raise awareness on cyber security."

“Guided by this MOU, SETICs will continue working hard to realise change in how Paraguayans view and relate to cyber security, and build a strong and mindful relationship between our people and ICTs. We are convinced that cyber incident response is not the only way to ensure that our countries can enjoy secure virtual networks. While still seeking to minimize the impact of cyber incidents, we understand that cyber security must be proactive, and that educating people on safe use of networks is one of the best ways to ensure that the Internet has only a positive impact on our lives. PARA.PIENSA.CONECTATE. embodies the values we cherish, and we celebrate this agreement and pledge to be strong allies as we continue to raise awareness,“ Mr. Vazquez said.

The OAS and the messaging convention entered into a memorandum of understanding last year to promote the campaign among its member states, of which there are 35 independent nations that belong to the OAS. OAS recognised the value of a unified messaging scheme early on in and established the convention as a ready resource for OAS member nations that had determined a need for a national cybersecurity awareness campaign.

Ambassador Adam Blackwell, OAS Secretary of Multidimensional Security said, "We live in an era of connected citizens, virtual territories and global borders. To effectively harvest the power of the Internet, we need partnerships to raise awareness at all levels within governments and among companies and our citizens. The STOP.THINK.CONNECT initiative allows relevant stakeholders across the global digital landscape to receive a unified message to educate those who administer and consume Internet and communication technologies. The OAS recently signed this initiative, and we are delighted to be able to work with civil society to facilitate participation by the governments of Paraguay and Panama in STOP.THINK.CONNECT,“ Ambassador Blackwell said.

APWG and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), spurred by its respective members' interest in public education, began development of the convention in 2009 in order to make a single, formally developed and tested awareness suite for cybersecurity available at no cost to all enterprises in the world requiring one to educate their constituents.

An initial meeting of APWG and NCSA sponsoring companies in Spring 2009, indicated wide interest in harmonising public awareness messaging and spurred a program of development of the logo, slogan and an initial set of tips and advice for the general public.

"The Message Convention has a message for all responders to cybercrime: hemispheric unification against cybercrime is a fact. Join us. We look forward to finishing our work and covering the globe with a universal cybersecurity awareness campaign," Mr. Cassidy said.