News

Edubox Cybersecurity

10 February 2023

On Safer Internet Day (7 February 2023), the VRT, in collaboration with Mediawijs, DNS Belgium, Digital for Youth and the Cyber Security Coalition, launched the EDUbox Cybersecurity. 

Free course material 

The free EDUbox Cybersecurity contains teaching materials for secondary school students. With bits of theory, videos, interactive exercises and assignments, students can work independently in groups around online security.   

The EDUbox teaches young people to be alert to online scams. Gimmicks used to steal personal data, hackers cracking passwords and more: we teach young people to recognise unsafe situations.   

  • Ordering the EDUbox? That is possible on the website of the VRT in Dutch or in French
  • Using the EDUbox? Quite simple! Inside the box you will find a manual for teachers on how to use it with proposals on how to make it yours. 

Inside the head of a hacker  

The digital society certainly brings a host of benefits. For young people, social media, online shopping and gaming, payconiqing, video calling, streaming your favourite series and music at any time of the day have become a matter of fact. At the same time, their knowledge of digital tools appears rather limited.  

And that also makes them vulnerable to cybercriminals. For them, casual users or people with limited digital knowledge are a dream target. That is why young people should be more aware of the risks of a plugged-in life. We teach them to protect themselves against cybercrime.  

The EDUbox informs young people and makes sure they protect themselves properly online. They gain insight into a hacker's bag of tricks and put themselves in the shoes of an ethical hacker. By looking at digital society in this way, they become more aware of their own safety.   

Practical information around the EDUbox 

The EDUbox Cybersecurity comes in three forms: a physical box, an interactive website or a downloadable pdf. It contains teaching materials in five parts that you, as a teacher, can go through with your students in a maximum of two hours of lessons.   

  • In Part 1, students become aware of their digital footprint and what can be found about them online. They gain insight into the methods of hackers. 

  • In part 2, they learn from ethical hacker Inti De Ceukelaire to think like a hacker, with the intention of outsmarting them in the future. 

  • In Part 3, students go into a fictional environment as real hackers to find holes in a system. They also learn to adequately secure the system

  • Part 4 features experts who have made cybersecurity their profession. 

  • Finally, in Part 5, students are given additional material on the topic

The EDUbox is aimed at secondary school students and is highly suitable for independent group work.   

With this article, we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.