Goodbye, Jeff and Tina: Cyber Awareness Challenge ditches beloved-but-corny characters

There’s something — or a few someones — missing from the 2019 Cyber Awareness Challenge, the Department of Defense’s annual computer security training.

Loveable sweater-vested narrator Jeff, misguided co-worker Tina and other characters are absent from the new challenge, which casts its user in the role of virtual superhero in a race to prevent a future cyberattack.

The characters became the subject of many tweets, gifs, memes and Halloween costumes over the years. But in the updated program, the cartoons are all but gone, traded for live actors.

Launched late last year, the new Cyber Awareness Challenge “offers a completely new look and feel,” the Defense Information Systems Agency wrote in the product description of the program. While the challenge retains its game-like quality, its concept is turned on its head.

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