Government, tech giants team up to protect kids online
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Department of Homeland Security and several tech giants are teaming up to launch a nationwide volunteer program that will put tech pros in K-12 classrooms to make the younger generation aware of dangers on the Internet.
The pioneering program, to be announced today at the RSA security conference here, will teach youngsters not just to be wary of online predators and bullies but alert to the tricks of data thieves and scam artists.
Michael Kaiser, executive director of the nonprofit National Cyber Security Alliance that will administer the program, said the larger goal is to prompt schools nationwide to "embrace a comprehensive approach to teaching cybersecurity, cybersafety, and cyber ethics."
Science Applications International Corp. will begin sending volunteer instructors into schools in Maryland this week, and tech giant EMC will do likewise in coming weeks in schools in California and Massachusetts. Microsoft, Symantec, Cisco and other tech firms support the program financially.
According to surveys by NCSA and the Pew Internet American Life Project, 79% of teens who use the Internet are not careful about sharing personal information, yet only 3% of state school curriculums includes lessons about smart use of social networks and chat rooms.
"Our children need help," says Bill Sanderson, principal of International Studies Academy, a public high school in San Francisco. "We require our students to use the Internet for research and study. We must ensure that they are properly educated on how to keep themselves safe online."
The volunteers will teach from a prepared curriculum, called C-SAVE: Cyber Security Awareness Volunteer Education. NSCA plans to lobby state legislatures and local school districts to adopt C-SAVE "as a national framework to guide cybersecurity teaching in all K-12 shows," says Kaiser.
In other RSA news, AVG, supplier of a popular free antivirus program, announced that it has made a powerful tool, call LinkScanner, also free to consumers as a standalone protection tool. Previously, LinkScanner came packaged with AVG's paid antivirus program. LinkScanner checks each website a user clicks to, ensuring it is not currently tainted with a malicious program. McAfee's Site Adviser and Finjan's Threat Scanner do similar checks, based on blacklists of known or suspected tainted websites.
Related Stories
ABC News Live