This new course is teaching kids to be cyber security experts
Families all around the country are currently homeschooling their children as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak and its effect on schools. They’ll be doing geography, maths, English, maybe some French – but how about learning to be a hacker for the intelligence services? Now, a new course is offering to teach kids just that.
A new ‘Virtual Cyber School’ is offering over 200 free cyber security challenges to teach children about “white-hat” hacking (that’s hacking for the good guys). Set up by Cyber Discovery, in conjunction with the government, the Virtual Cyber School is intended to start the journeys of the next generation of cyber security experts.
Related: Challenge your kids with these 44 fun engineering tasks from Dyson
A statement on the Virtual Cyber School site reads: “Studying from home doesn’t have to be a chore. Join our Virtual Cyber School, in partnership with HM Government, where you will gain access to CyberStart Game until 31st August 2020 – an interactive learning platform played and loved by over 200k students worldwide.
“With your free CyberStart Game licence, you’ll be able to explore and have a go at over 200 online cyber security challenges. Learn how to crack codes, find security flaws and dissect criminals’ digital trails whilst playing as a cyber agent in our Cyber Protection Agency. You will learn the essential concepts and ideas cyber agents apply when dealing with the aftermath of real cyber attacks.
“Students with no previous experience or interest have gone on to master techniques such as SQL injection and XXS. Our training has taught them how to write their own programs and learn what it means to be an ethical hacker working in the industry.”
Related: Best PC games 2020
As well as games and challenges, the site is also providing free weekly webinars, offering kids another opportunity to learn about cyber security from industry experts.
If you, or your children, want to get involved, simply head over to cyber-school.joincyberdiscovery.com. It’s a great opportunity to learn something new during the lockdown period.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
