Internet Learning: England Schools Offer Cyber Security Lessons For Kids

The increasing threat to information security has prompted schools in England to offfer cyber-security classes to their students. This will help improve the children's knowledge on internet security, and maybe help them protect their country from technology warfare in the future.

Up to 5,700 students in the U.K. who are 14 years old and above are expected to take up the new lessons on cybe- security. The classes will be piloted in schools over a period of five years. Students are expected to spend four hours every week for their cyber-security lessons.

There are 58,000 people employed in the United Kingdom's cyber security industry, according to BGR. The Public Accountant Committee, however, warned of an impending shortage for people who have the required skills due to the increasing demand for computer experts. Up to 20 million pounds ($24 million) will be allotted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for the cyber-security lessons.

"This forward-thinking program will see thousands of the best and brightest young minds given the opportunity to learn cutting-edge cyber security skills alongside their secondary school studies," Digital and Culture Minister Matt Hancock said.

Members of a Commons committee earlier warned about the dangers posed by the lack of experts, with cutting-edge computer skills, to the cyber defense of the U.K., as per BBC. Like other countries, The country now considers the possible hacking of its computer systems as one of the top national security threats.

Cyber-security is significant to public and private institutions as failures in this area can expose its computers to unauthorized access, according to Digital Guardian. Corporations and even different government agencies have stored vast amounts of data on their computers and most of these are classified and high sensitive data. Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated today, making the challenge of protecting vital information more difficult even for rich countries.