Nowadays, entry into the digital world begins at a young age. Exciting games, funny videos, later social contacts, online shopping and even their own accounts - children already master a wide range of digital applications and technologies with impressive naturalness, which have a significant influence on their private and later also their professional lives.
The security risks to which children are exposed on the internet range from social phenomena such as bullying and damage caused by fraudulent messages or apps to threats to their physical safety through communication with strangers. Dealing with such risks has long been a concern for parents, teachers and socio-educational services. However, the problems are complex and require technical as well as social and educational measures.
The new Erasmus+ project ‘KidCy’ at the University of Liechtenstein, led by Dr Irdin Pekaric and Prof. Dr Pavel Laskov at the Hilti Professorship for Data and Application Security, is concerned with developing a new curriculum that includes suitable didactic tools for teaching cyber security to children. The aim of the project is to first research children's self-perception of cyber security and link it to the known risks in order to develop suitable teaching methods and teaching materials on this basis.
At the first project meeting on 26 and 27 September 2024, researchers from Liechtenstein, Norway, Austria, Lithuania and the Czech Republic met at the University of Liechtenstein to discuss the planning and design of the first steps of this ambitious project. The results are to be presented to stakeholders in the school system and social services in the Rhine Valley region as early as 2026.