When Alexander worked at the former Digital Equipment Corp., she developed a scavenger hunt that asked workers to find 10 items related to security on the company's Web site. Those who got all 10 were entered into a drawing to win a mug.

You might be surprised to learn that the nonmandatory event drew in more than 70 percent of the company's worldwide workforce. "Positive competition is really beneficial," Alexander says.

K Rudolph says she has seen similar success with competitive programs. Rudolph is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and chief inspiration officer at Native Intelligence Inc., a company in Glenelg, Md., that provides IT security awareness services to government agencies and private industry.

She says one of her clients implemented a "news hawk" program, where the first employee to bring in a news story on IT security gets a prize. Prizes have ranged from time off to movie tickets. The awareness team then distributes the news item through a weekly e-mail or its periodic newsletter.

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