Building Strong Foundations in Cybersecurity

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, Digital Citizenship Special Issue, 2020

By Adam Stone

Rayna Freedman, a Grade 5 teacher at Jordan/Jackson Elementary School in Mansfield, MA, worries about the degree to which her students’ private selves are exposed online. She’s concerned about how unconcerned the kids themselves are.

“When they check the box to sign up for an app, they don’t understand what they are agreeing to,” she says. “Sharing information with companies about sites you visit, sharing your physical location or your IP address, my kids have zero knowledge about any of these. They are just checking boxes with no understanding.”

When it comes to privacy and security, K–12 teachers have good reason to worry. A recent report by the K–12 Cybersecurity Resource Center shows over 770 publicly disclosed cybersecurity-related incidents involving U.S. public schools since 2016—and that is just the hacks. When you add in all the information kids freely give away, it’s easy to see why teachers would be concerned.

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Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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Adam Stone
Adam Stone
Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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