Today, in honor of Military Appreciation Month, Aura, the leader in intelligent safety, announced a three-year partnership with Blue Star Families of New England. Building on Aura's existing sponsorship of and collaboration with the organization's national team, this expansion deepens Aura's support of active-duty service members, veterans and military families, who experience higher-than-average rates of cybercrime, and lost $414 million to fraud in 2022, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
According to recent research from Aura and Ipsos*, veterans are well aware of their disproportionate vulnerability to scams and fraud and are actively concerned about their families' online safety. According to the survey:
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9 in 10 veterans say they worry about their sensitive information being compromised at least once a year (89%);
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1 in 5 veterans say their identity has been compromised in the past 5 years (19%);
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1 in 4 veterans say they worry about their sensitive information being compromised online every day (24%);
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And veteran parents were significantly more likely to say they manage their family's digital security (84%) than civilian parents (51%).
"In the military community, online crime can have especially severe consequences, from the loss of security clearances to disruption of the family's income while a loved one is deployed," said Hari Ravichandran, founder and CEO of Aura. "We know that military families are working overtime to ensure they are protected, but we at Aura believe the military community should not be saddled with the burden of protection alone. Together with Blue Star Families New England, Aura wants to tackle this crisis head-on and reduce the impact of online crime on military families."
As the newly named official safety sponsor of the nonprofit's New England chapter, Aura CEO and Founder Hari Ravichandran will join the organization's local Board of Directors. Aura will also collaborate with the nonprofit on a local and national scale to support policy initiatives and government relations efforts that better protect our nation's military families' digital well being, to host cybersecurity education workshops and to provide empowering content and innovative digital safety tools to New England's military community. Like all current, former and reserve military families, Blue Star Families New England chapter members can also access Aura's military discount, starting with a two-week free trial, followed by 50 percent off of Aura protection plans.
"The New England region is home to many active-duty, reserve, guard, veteran and retired military personnel, as well as their families," said Jeffrey Chin, the Executive Director of Blue Star Families of New England. "We are grateful to collaborate with partners like Aura who not only want to give back to the heroes who dedicate their lives to our country, but who are also committed to reversing the alarming and disproportionate rates of cybercrime and identity theft we see among them."
About Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families (BSF) is the nation's largest chapter-based military and veteran family support organization. Its research-driven approach builds strong communities with a focus on human centered design and innovative solutions. Since its founding in 2009, BSF has delivered more than $200 million in benefits and impacts more than 1.5 million people each year.
About Aura
Aura, the leader in intelligent safety, provides all-in-one digital protection for consumers. We understand that the online safety needs of each individual are unique and require a personalized solution. By bringing together security, privacy and parental controls on an intelligent platform, Aura makes adaptive and proactive digital safety accessible to everyone. Visit www.aura.com.