Education is the cornerstone of our culture, because it allows us to progress as a society and share with new generations values and knowledge that we consider essential.
In an increasingly digitalized society, and especially as children increasingly use technology at earlier ages, it is crucial that education focuses on how to use this global tool safely. security.
Technology offers great benefits in education, culture and entertainment, but also presents certain risks that they should be aware of.
The report “Why children are not safe in cyberspace» from the Global Cybersecurity Forum found that 72% of children worldwide have faced at least one type of cyber threat online. This is very alarming because it can have an impact on the mental and physical health, integrity and privacy of young people.
The report reflects the growing challenges faced in protecting children in cyberspace, particularly at a time when 90% of children over the age of 8 are already active online, but only 40% of their parents are aware that their child lived a cyber threat in the past.
Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd.believes that although efforts to respond with increased awareness and implement new security measures are increasing, they are still not enough.
Cybersecurity education
The threats children face are very different and in most cases they are not aware of them and parents have no idea either. It is therefore essential to take preventative measures now to ensure children are protected online. Here are some of the main measures to protect them:
Learning cyber security through play: Play is always a great tool for teaching children because when they learn while having fun, they acquire concepts more effectively. In this way, practical exercises can be offered to simulate threats so that they learn to protect themselves.
It is also possible to develop online applications and games to help them acquire this knowledge, recognize threats and know how to protect their personal data.
Ethics as a banner: cybersecurity education always has an ethical component because it is very important to instill ethical principles for the development of future responsible citizens. The development of technological skills must be accompanied by conscious use of them.
Demystify it pirate: It is essential that children understand all the complexities of this figure. A hacker can be a cybercriminal who causes damage to computer systems but also exists “good hackersor “White Hats” who use their IT knowledge ethically to identify potential system flaws or errors in businesses and correct them to prevent attacks.
Cybersecurity in the educational curriculum: Cybersecurity education in schools is one of the main strategies for preventing threats affecting minors. Cybersecurity is a hot topic in schools, and it would be very useful to make children aware of the risks and teach them some tools to protect themselves.
For this, it is crucial to have digitally literate educators and it is highly recommended that they offer such courses on cybersecurity so that parents can also have basic knowledge on how to help their child protect yourself online.
Creating a secure network: Children also need to know how to create secure networks to prevent potential threats, one of the most common being phishing. This threat lies in the use of emails to trick people into clicking on malicious links or attachments.
Sometimes these emails are very difficult to detect, especially for children, because they appear to come from a familiar person, such as a friend or family member.
This is why it is necessary for them to learn to detect when a cyber attack can compromise their network, to use secure passwords as an additional barrier, to protect their social networks on which they spend many hours and to recognize attacks phishing.
It is very harmful that children at such a young age are exposed to cyber risks, as it could endanger their emotional health, physical integrity and privacy,” says Ram Narayanan, Country Director at Check Point Software Technologies, Middle East. East.
“In this way, it is essential that children receive cybersecurity education to know how to identify threats and have tools to respond to them. In this sense, children can feel safer online and, at the same time, we are building a more conscious and responsible society in the use of new technologies.”
Media Disclaimer: This report is based on internal and external research obtained through various means. The information provided is for reference purposes only and users take full responsibility for their reliance on it. Le Cyber Express assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or consequences of the use of this information.