Free Mobile Program to Help Parents Improve Children’s Cybersecurity Competencies

A free training course, based on the Skill Cup mobile app and developed with the Kaspersky Security Awareness platform team, has been launched to help parents and their kids better navigate cybersecurity and digital ethics. Designed to cover key issues and challenges that children may face while using their devices and surfing the internet, the free program is available for iOS and Android devices. The launch of the training course also coincides with International Children’s Day.

According to a variety of surveys, the majority of children already use some kind of device by the age of 11-12. However, for the digital world to remain a safe space for kids “born with a tablet in their hands”, cybersecurity and digital ethics skills need to be fostered from childhood. Kaspersky and Skill Cup have teamed up to develop the course in order to meet this need.

The program is based on the Skill Cup mobile app and consists of a series of interactive lessons organized into several topical units. These are presented in a variety of formats, including articles, videos, quizzes, and infographics.

Topics within the program cover the most important issues of digital ethics and literacy, including cyberbullying, rules for communicating with strangers, dangerous content (such as groups and challenges), and types of fraud, etc. At the end of each lesson, a small test is taken to assess knowledge and understanding of the topic.

The course is currently available in English and Russian.

“It’s hard to imagine school children without gadgets these days. So sooner rather than later, parents will buy the first smartphone for their child who will be introduced to a brave new digital world. Then comes the dilemma for any parent: how to keep a child safe from various cyberthreats and not interfere too much with a child’s personal digital space in the process. We came up with the idea of an express mobile course for parents, which will ensure they understand the nature of current cyberthreats for children. It will also provide them with some tips and tricks on how to maintain a reasonable level of security without needing to resort to being overly controlling or imposing tough restrictions,” comments Denis Barinov, Head of Kaspersky Academy.

“Today’s children are used to a wide range of social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and others. That’s why the learning format should be adjusted to their content consumption habits. At Skill Cup we use microlearning as a format that helps to deliver knowledge in a fun and engaging way,” says Roman Mandrik, CEO and Founder of Skill Cup.