Abstract:

Cybersecurity education represents a significant challenge in current educational institutions. As children increasingly interact with digital platforms, there is a significant need to protect their privacy and verify their authenticity. Schools and teachers represent the initial and crucial phase in educating children, acting as primary facilitators of cybersecurity knowledge and learning. However, there are several challenges to integrating cybersecurity education into secondary schools, including a lack of qualified teachers, limited cybersecurity resources, and an emphasis on educating young students about cybersecurity. This study aims to determine how cybersecurity is being integrated into the current curriculum and the challenges that educators face in teaching cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) has been used as a foundational cybersecurity educational guide to develop an educational curriculum. By utilizing the knowledge background from CyBOK we provide an in-depth, comprehensive comparison of eleven national and international computer science curricula from various countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. This study reveals a significant gap in cybersecurity education across educational institutions. Additionally, a standardized cybersecurity curriculum in education systems does not exist in secondary schools worldwide. Consequently, there is a substantial need for a standardized cybersecurity curriculum that addresses gaps in cybersecurity skills and provides teachers with the necessary training and resources to effectively teach cybersecurity to secondary school students.

Keywords:

Cybersecurity, education, CyBok, Cybersecurity curriculum, secondary education.