DailyPost 1068
MASSIVE CYBER SECURITY AWARENESS INITIATIVE
The the solution should necessarily be commensurate to the magnitude of the issue to be resolved. Cyber insecurity has grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years and remains to the number one national threat for the US since 2014. So is the case with host of other countries and might be the world too. Governments and business enterprises have been working out the right response mechanism and operationalising it. Improvement is the key as the threat landscape keeps on changing.
It is the so called unorganised sector, people who do not have access to the latest threat landscape, cyber training, support, help are the most vulnerable to this challenge and the ensuing exploitation in a variety of ways. School and College girls and children fall in the most vulnerable category, amongst the general users and usage of the this technology / social media is also the maximum in them. It is thus imperative that there is need for a Massive Cyber Security Awareness Initiative in the interest of the vulnerable sections, for families congenial atmosphere and in the interest of a healthy society. Besides this, the social media and gaming addiction is another connected challenge.
The content and pedagogy for workshops for this purpose has to be created after careful study by experts and practitioners who understand the cyber threat, psychology, the gadgets, social media, gaming and nature of the collaborations created by internet. Vetting and standardised content is the key to measure the impact. Standard content helps in creating master trainers / trainers which can provide the same training / dissemination of knowledge / skills to girls and children. Uniformity by itself is a facilitator of any massive awareness initiative.
All stakeholders have to be brought to the same Cyber Page. The unison in having the same understating of the issue leads to buy in. Buy is the real initiator of change. Things have to change to digitally safer and socially saner levels. A necessity cannot be termed as in course or out of the course. This would be the ultimate life saving skill on a daily basis, both for the present and the future. The course content and pedagogy will have to be a upgraded, whenever required. Slowly, it should find its way into the computer science classes itself, for good.
BEING CYBER SAFE IS AN EXISTENTIAL NEED.
Sanjay Sahay