According to Wednesday’s USA Today, the Department of Homeland Security and several major tech companies are teaming up to launch a nationwide program in K-12 classrooms to make the younger generation aware of dangers on the Internet.
The pioneering program will teach youngsters not just to be wary of online predators and bullies but alert to the tricks of data thieves and scam artists, who use the reach and speed of the internet to prey upon the naïve.
According to surveys by the nonprofit National Cyber Security Alliance and the Pew Internet American Life Project, 79% of teens who use the Internet are not careful about sharing personal information, yet only 3% of state school curriculums includes lessons about smart use of social networks and chat rooms.
Websites like webwisekids.org and protectkids.com offer information for parents and kids, but socialization and community guidelines are also the responsibility of schools.
“Our children need help,” says Bill Sanderson, principal of International Studies Academy, a public high school in San Francisco. “We require our students to use the Internet for research and study. We must ensure that they are properly educated on how to keep themselves safe online.”
Michael Kaiser, executive director of the NCSA, said the larger goal is to prompt schools nationwide to “embrace a comprehensive approach to teaching cybersecurity, cybersafety, and cyber ethics.”
Volunteer instructors have already been send to schools in Maryland this week, and tech giant EMC will do likewise in coming weeks in California and Massachusetts. Microsoft, Symantec, Cisco and other tech firms support the program financially.
Volunteers will teach from a prepared curriculum, called C-SAVE: Cyber Security Awareness Volunteer Education. NSCA plans to lobby state legislatures and local school districts to adopt C-SAVE “as a national framework to guide cybersecurity teaching in all K-12 [schools],” says Kaiser.