3 days. 250 students. Tons of Awareness. Lots of Fun.

It’s been quiet over here at profection.net but for good reasons. I had the opportunity to teach 150 elementary school students about online safety and privacy at one of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s thriving schools. I presented to six classrooms of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. We learned that “online friends are not the same as real friends” with a little help from Garfield. Lots of great questions (kids say the darndest things…) and it was evident that these children, even at 7 years old, are fully immersed in a digital world and everything that comes with the territory.

Garfield’s Cyber Safety Adventures lesson on Privacy guided our discussion. Students received a comic book, stickers, trading cards, or camera privacy stickers as a fun reminder of what they had learned in class.
Students were taught about private information and we discussed what is and is not OK to share online.
A tie in to video games kept the students interested.
We paused to learn about selfies and why you may not want to share them. Students were encouraged to use screen names and avatars in place of their real identity.
Each student received a certificate of completion in recognition of their achievement. They were encouraged to share what they had learned with their siblings, parents, and grandparents.

The awareness didn’t end there… I was honored to be invited to talk about my career in Information Security with 100 more 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students during Career Day. The audience was a bit tougher 🙂 More great questions and discussion – we talked about hackers, video games, and even the dark web (didn’t expect that). I’m not sure if I put everyone to sleep or inspired the next generation of (ethical) hackers but it was fun!

First we defined Information Security and talked about different jobs and why you might want to pursue a career in Information Security or at least learn more about it.
From ethical hacking, threat intelligence, and red teaming to privacy regulation and cyber law we covered a lot of territory in several 30 minute sessions over 3 hours.

So that was last week. 3 days, 250 students, and tons of security and privacy awareness. The students were awesome – attentive, engaged, and genuinely curious about real issues that they deal with on a daily basis. I can only hope that they learned something worthy of sharing with friends and family. I know I learned a few things from them.

#iamcybersafe

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