With increasing numbers of young people being arrested or cautioned for serious cybercrimes, there is a question of whether cyber security should be introduced early in the curriculum.
Recently, Europol has carried out investigations into cyber hacking and the surge of DDoS attacks. After interviewing and cautioning 101 people, and arresting a further 34, what they found is that these hackers are mainly under the age of 20.
It seems like hacking communities are starting to influence and heavily feature young people, so we have to ask, could the government do more to boost cybersecurity in the UK by introducing cyber education into the school curriculum?
We talk to Mark James, ESET IT Security Specialist, to discuss how schools could use cyber security awareness to discourage hacks by ‘bored teenagers’.
“Understanding cybersecurity and how it affects everything we do in our lives today is paramount in building foundations for our future protection.
“If we can start that education as early as possible alongside general IT computer training, then it may well help in the youth of today channelling their expertise into the good side of computing.
“Whilst it’s great for parents to lead the way, they may lack the necessary skill to provide the best knowledge or advice for cyber safety.
“This is where the right early start and ongoing education can, and does, help to enable children understand the risks and channel their interest into forming skills that will help them possibly become our future cyber security advocates.”
Do you want your children to receive cyber awareness education earlier? Let us know on Twitter @ESETUK
Join the ESET UK LinkedIn Group and stay up to date with the blog. If you’re interested in seeing where ESET has been featured in the news then check out our ‘In the news’ section.