Ukraine launches educational campaign on personal cybersecurity for citizens

The Office of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation in Ukraine (CRDF Global in Ukraine), together with the National Coordination Center for Cybersecurity under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and other organizations, are launching an all-Ukrainian information and education campaign on personal cybersecurity.

The main goal is to raise general awareness of online threats and teach Ukrainians the basics of cyber hygiene.

«Cybersecurity is a particularly relevant topic during a full-scale war. And it is very important to pay attention to it in schools. We see that many teenagers still consume a lot of content from Russian bloggers, and they are less protected from fraud and manipulation on the Internet. So it’s very appropriate to introduce this topic into the classroom, and it is studied as part of computer science and civics and history education. And we need to talk about the importance of cybersecurity not only in schools, but also at home or in the media,» said Andriy Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

The information and education campaign on personal cybersecurity is aimed at several age groups:

• teenagers (11-17 years old) are among the most vulnerable — they use all technologies with much more confidence than most adults, but have less life experience and critical thinking, which makes them easier to fall for fraudsters;
• adults (18-59 years old) use technological innovations more selectively, but do not consider themselves interesting to cybercriminals, and therefore continue to disregard security rules;
• Elderly people (60+), because since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, they are increasingly using online tools to get news and contact their families, which means they also need support and explanations of the rules of cyber hygiene.

The campaign materials focus on simple and understandable cybersecurity rules that people often do not follow in everyday life:

• regular password changes,
• checking the links that users follow,
• checking the reliability of the Wi-Fi network to which the gadgets are connected.

The basic principles of cyber hygiene, along with an interactive quiz to test your knowledge, are available on the next page.