In the News | How to Leverage Technology to Promote Cybersecurity Awareness - Security Boulevard

This article was originally published in The Learning Counsel on 8.28.23 by Charlie Sander, CEO at ManagedMethods.

How Schools Can Use Tools To Make Cybersecurity Awareness Engaging & Effective

The issue of cybersecurity in schools is not going away anytime soon. A worldwide survey conducted by cybersecurity firm Sophos between January and March involving 3,000 IT/cybersecurity leaders revealed that 80 percent of school IT professionals reported ransomware incidents within the past year. This is an increase of 24 percent from the previous 12-month period.

While we are seeing progress being made to foster cybersecurity awareness in schools around the world—such as Cyber for YOUth targeting school students in India or Savvy Cyber Kids in the US which both use a sequence of engaging interactive sessions and innovative participatory activities—there isn’t widespread knowledge of how to go about leveraging technology to help promote cybersecurity awareness.

And it’s not as if there are even significant doubts about the effectiveness of cybersecurity awareness programs. Government and private investment has increased with Amazon Web Services committing $20 million towards cyber grant programs for school districts and state departments of education.

So how can schools use tools available to make cybersecurity awareness an engaging and fruitful activity, securing teachers’ and students’ online presence? Let’s dive in.