According to a McAfee study report released on Tuesday, 89% of people in India believe that schools should teach students about cyber safety as a result of the pandemic driving many schools and educational institutions to seek online alternatives.
Digital wellness and protection should have its own unique curriculum that is taught throughout elementary school, according to 62% of those polled, while 27% believe it should be included into technological topics like IT.
Furthermore, 81% of Indians responded that at least one person of their household has started full-time or part-time online learning using virtual platforms in the past year.
24 percent of these students are between the ages of 5 and 12, with 9% being under the age of 5.
Judith Bitterli, Senior Vice President of Consumer at McAfee, in a statement said “With students as well as teachers now operating from lesser controlled environments, the need to educate them on basics such as phishing, cyberbullying, and inculcating overall cybersecurity hygiene is imperative. Educational institutions must approach cybersecurity holistically, particularly now that technology pervades nearly every facet of a child’s life,”
She added “As technology has transformed the educational sector, cybersecurity too must be part of the school curriculum, and entrenched in the way we teach, and the way we learn,”
To stay secure, McAfee recommends double-checking emails/text messages before responding; maximising privacy settings on all social profiles and engaging in safe social networking; and using a VPN when children access online learning services from home to protect the privacy of the Internet connection with bank-level encryption to prevent hackers from stealing personal information such as passwords or data.
Children must also be taught about fake news, phishing scams, and how to create secure, complex passwords, among other things.
McAfee commissioned MSI International to conduct a survey of over 1,000 persons aged 18 to 75 in India in April 2021 for the study.