Cybersecurity Skills among European High-School Students: A New Approach in the Design of Sustainable Educational Development in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has increasingly become a headline feature in news media in recent years, generally prompted by spectacular security breaches in various information systems. The importance of cybersecurity awareness for the sustainable development of society is now recognized widely, but the problem of how to build an educational ecosystem which will include the most relevant target audiences that need to develop cybersecurity skills, is not yet solved. This paper elaborates the state of cybersecurity skills and knowledge in European high-school students by collecting data from the students, their teachers and parents by means of surveys and interviews in nine European countries. The analysis of the information collected has revealed the required topics from the area of cybersecurity that need to be introduced in high school educational programs and the most suitable delivery methods for educational content, such as videos and serious games. A selection of thirteen serious games related to cybersecurity was evaluated and then presented to a class of high-school students. The study of the collected data has shown that cybersecurity education at high school level requires innovative and interactive approaches that build the required skills for a more effective sustainable education and social development.