Abstract:

A Malaysian baseline study on the level of cyber security awareness among school children and parents (2021) by CyberSecurity Malaysia shows internet addiction, lack of digital citizenship awareness, ineffective parental control, and inappropriate content, increase cybersecurity risks amongst students. Students need to have the knowledge of the danger of the internet and learn the skills to avoid the psychological and physical effects that can potentially be inflicted by online hazards. With rapid technology development and the proliferating use of the internet amongst the younger population, the pertinent role of both home and schools in preparing students with the knowledge and skills to manage their online interactions is irrefutable. This paper shares the findings from the CyberSecurity Malaysia national career development and training initiative to prepare certified cybersecurity awareness educators for public schools in Malaysia. The pool of cybersecurity awareness educators will have the capability to prepare students with the knowledge and skills to stay safe and resilient online. In 2021, CyberSecurity Malaysia implemented the Certified Cybersecurity Awareness Educator (CCAsE) Program. The CCAsE program aims to produce the Global Ace certified cybersecurity awareness educators. Through rigorous training and examination, CCAsE enhances the skill-sets of educators with local and international requirements meeting the ISO/IEC 17024 to assure capability and experience, and secure and validate core skills, knowledge, and attitude. CCAsE equips educators with the knowledge of digital citizenship and skills to pro-actively develop and implement comprehensive school-wide cybersecurity awareness programs or classroom-level activities. For the initial implementation between 2021 and 2024, CCAsE targets all educators teaching various subjects in public schools. CyberSecurity Malaysia in collaboration with the Ministry of Education targets 1000 certified educators benefitting 500,000 students by 2024. In 2021, due to the pandemic, the first 10 training sessions were held virtually for 300 educators benefitting 150,000 students. The paper discusses the findings from the analysis of the initial implementation by highlighting the three key components, which are, first, the module approach for developing educators’ knowledge, skills and attitude, second, the training delivery model, and third, the examination administration. Outcomes and challenges of these components are explored and recommendations for the professional development of educators as cybersecurity awareness educators will be presented.

Keywords:

Educator, Cybersecurity, Awareness.