As of 2004, Cyber Security Awareness Month has been celebrated in October. This month is sponsored by a division within Homeland Security (the National Cyber Security Division) and the National Cyber Security Alliance. The goal is to encourage all technology users to be more aware of risks and potential online threats which typically target human behavior. You may notice various posts and updates this month across your devices and tools as it relates to cyber security. For example, you may have noticed the Presidential Alert on your cell phone on Wednesday, October 3. Though that alert is to warn of a more widespread disaster, it wasn’t a coincidence that it took place this month. To help you participate, we’ve collected resources, ideas, and activities that can be implemented and shared with students (and teachers).
Resources
Weekly Security Themes – The National Cyber Security Alliance has identified a theme for each week of this month in order to bring more awareness to specific aspects of online threats to consumers, educators/students, and businesses.
FBI Resources for Weekly Security Themes – In conjunction with the NCSA, the FBI has provided specific resources to help educate yourself and students.
CISCO Resources for Weekly Security Themes – CISCO has organized resources that provide more in-depth, relevant information for each week covering topics such as Machine Learning 101 and Data Protection and Privacy.
Science and Technology’s Cyber Security Division Overview Video [4:55] This video shares the major tasks of the Cyber Security Division and how this division brings together government departments and private sector organizations to develop innovative technologies and safer procedures.
Ideas and Activities
CyberSmart! Classroom Activities & Posters – The NCSA partnered with McAfee to distribute free cyber security posters along with accompanying activities to educators. Even if you aren’t able to incorporate the activities this month, consider using them at another time during the year as you discuss various aspects of digital citizenship.
GenCyber Teacher Camp Resources – The University of Tulsa has organized a GREAT list of lesson plans, units, activities, and resources for educators. Be sure to explore and share with others!
Cybersecurity Lab – Teens will find this a fascinating and intriguing game to play as they learn what fosters authentic scientific exploration. The four major gameplay components consist of Coding Challenge, Password-Cracking Challenge, Social Engineering Challenge, and Network Attacks.
CERIAS Lesson Plans and Presentations – The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) has gathered and organized an excellent list of lesson plans for educators. The categories of lesson plans include lesson plans for all grade levels, lesson plans for K-5, and lesson plans for 6-12.
eGFI Lessons and Activities – The Engineering, Go For It (eGFI) organization has put together several activities that you’ll enjoy sharing with your students. Along with the activities is a list of related lesson plans!
NICCS Resources for Engaging Students in Cybersecurity – The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (a part of the Department of Homeland Security) has put together a helpful guide to lead educators in bringing awareness of careers in the cybersecurity field.
Winning the Cyber Security Game – If you are a middle school teacher, you’ll enjoy using this lesson plan with your students. Canadian educators will appreciate that it is aligned to the Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools. Anticipate the activity taking one hour for 5th and 6th grade students and up to three hours for 7th and 8th grade students.
Free Resources for Teaching Students Cyber Security – Orion Technologies provided an “ultimate list” of resources for teachers. To better assist you in finding the perfect resources, they have divided them into the following groups: for teachers, for administrators, for younger kids, for pre-teen and middle school kids, and for older kids.
Cyber-Security Starter Activities – STEM Learning provides two starter activities to help get you started with educating students age 14 to 19 in aspects of cyber security.
Unplugged Activities – Did you realize you can teach cyber security concepts without the Internet?! Bits N’ Bytes by Kyla provides you with a lesson plan for 4th through 8th grade students that will take up to two hours to complete.
Find More…
If you would like to search for more ideas and resources, consider doing a Google search using this as your search query [ cybersecurity site:.gov ]. This query (without the square brackets) will limit your search results to websites that have the .gov domain. If you want to search for information provided by universities, then change the .gov to .edu. Here are the search results for each: using .gov and using .edu.
If you feel like you have the skills and interest to become an ethical hacker, then check out Penny Hoelscher’s post at comparitech, 6 courses to learn ethical hacking online. Other resources to investigate include #ethicalHacking, #hackerNews, #infosec, and #cybersecurity. And, if you have high school students who seem to have a knack for ‘getting into things,’ then this may be a honorable career pathway for them to make good use of those talents.
While we all want our staff to succeed, we need to admit that there is a major role that we play in making that possible. By doing (or not doing) specific things as leaders, we can inadvertently hinder their ability to succeed. And, when you think about setting them up to succeed, many of the same strategies that we use for students will also work with our staff. Daniel H. Pink summarized it best when he identified the three things that motivate creative folks: “autonomy, mastery, and purpose.” Let’s take a look at how these might play out on your campus or team as you set them up for success.
We have the opportunity to work with so many people on a regular basis. Many of them show great potential in becoming leaders if they had someone to walk along side them and help develop those skills. As 
When you see skills in others, be sure to let them know that you recognize those attributes and encourage them in using those skills. You may be the lone voice that ignites a desire for them to make a difference on a larger platform. If you have an idea of where that skill may be needed or may be a great asset, then say something like, “You are really good at explaining complex problems in a way that is understandable. Have you ever thought of a job in ____?” By articulating the skills that you see in them and sharing what a possible career trajectory might be for them in making use of that skill, you may inspire them to start considering additional growth opportunities.
There are so many different tasks that I do which involve using either Microsoft Word or Google Docs that I have picked up a few tips and tricks over the years to help make using Microsoft Word even faster so I can get to other items on my to-do list. And isn’t that our main goal anyway? As Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, said, “Focus on being productive instead of busy.” I was training this past week on Microsoft Office and had that startling realization that there are things I know how to do in Office that I take for granted and just assume that everyone knows the same things and makes use of various tools to speed up their process. So, here is a shortened list I would share with someone if they use Word, but want to be more productive.
Auto Recovery – Initially set at ten minutes, I dropped mine down to five. Whether I’m on my laptop on the go or plugged in at the office, if something happens and my computer shuts off, the worst case scenario is that I have only lost five minutes of work.
Copying/Pasting – When pasting from other programs, I typically want just the text (not the formatting), so why not set it here? I also have my pictures inserted/pasted as Tight…which is what I would change them to most of the time. The few times I want an image inserted in line with text or in front of text, I can easily change it on the fly using the Wrap Text button on the Format ribbon tab.
Recent Documents/Folders – It seems like I am always needing to find a Word file that I used a while back. To help make that easier, I increased the preference to show the 50 most recent documents (to quickly access them) and 50 unpinned recent folders.
Format Painter – I cannot believe that everyone doesn’t know about the Format Painter tool! Click in the text that contains the format you want to paint somewhere else. Then, click the Format Painter tool once if you are only going to apply it once or double-click it if you want to apply it to multiple pieces of text (or graphics) in your document. If you double-click the tool, then you will need to click it again to turn it off. This tool is especially handy if you have multiple locations where you want to bold, resize, change the font, and the color!
Styles – Instead of being forced to use the styles that are listed across the Home tab ribbon, consider updating them to be what you want. When your cursor is in the text that contains the formatting you want to keep, right-click on the appropriate style and select “Update…to Match Heading.” This is equivalent to boosting the Format Painter tool in that I don’t have to go and find the format in my document to click in and then grab the tool. Updating the styles makes it even easier.
ALT+click/drag – We know that you can click and drag to select text. This shortcut is like that only on steroids! While you hold down the ALT key, click and drag to select the columns of text you want to delete. Once selected, just his the delete key or backspace key.
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