We prepared the Field Manual to help you design your hands-on cybersecurity training in KYPO CRP. It is a minimalistic summary of our know-how gained through years of practice.

It is a challenge to design good cybersecurity training. We know it very well because we have done it many times – we trained professionals from giant energy companies, the government, or the bank sector.

However, it is meaningful to face this challenge. We all know that a skilled workforce is crucial in the domain. The digital resilience of our society requires professionals.

That’s the reason why we decide to create this Field Manual. It combines the main principles from several disciplines (management, andragogy, design, or even psychology) and the KYPO Cyber Range Platform fundamentals).

Of course, this is not a comprehensive description nor a substitute for KYPO CRP documentation. It is a minimalistic guide that will help the cybersecurity community create a mental model for preparing training.

We created the manual with the significant contribution of the CONCORDIA H2020 project

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The CONCORDIA Methodology and Guidelines for high school is out. Teachers are offered a flexible approach and 24 fiches to help prepare their cybersecurity and cybersafety related lessons.  

The CONCORDIA Methodology and Guidelines in support of high-school teachers describes a model of teaching and includes detailed information on how to address different cybersecurity and cybersafety topics in high school. We are also pointing to related initiatives deployed in different European countries. The document contains 470+ references and is structured as shown below:

The Methodology

The process we are proposing follows 3 phases: Assess/Plan/Deliver. At the core of our Methodology are (i) the active engagement of the students from the Assess phase, and (ii) the usage of the practical examples (see BYOE concept) and games/videos to illustrate the cybersecurity and cybersafety concepts. 

The Guidelines

The document covers 12 cybersafety and 12 cybersecurity topics we identified in the preparatory phase as essential to detail. Some of the topics are described at different levels of difficulty (Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced) as we considered fit for the high-school level, having in mind that we are addressing with this methodology a wide range of schools.

As part of cybersecurity, we thought relevant to provide a bit of guidance also on the most common cybersecurity related role profiles and certification schemes, to help students visualize a potential career path. 

The Annex 

The document closes with an annex grouping relevant initiatives deployed in Europe. The tabled structure helps teachers grasp easily the topic addressed, the age segment, the language, before deciding to explore it further. 

Let us know!

Are you a high school teacher interested to apply this methodology and use the cybersecurity / cybersafety related fiches we propose?

Drop us a message at contact@concordia.eu and we will update you on the related activities planned for beginning of 2023.

The post Teaching cybersecurity & cybersafety in high school appeared first on CONCORDIA.

Whether you are interested for updating your skills in cybersecurity or for gaining new knowledge in the area, have a look on the CONCORDIA map of courses and trainings.

Out of the 50+ courses currently present on the map, 80% of them are offered on site. Some of the courses and trainings have fixed dates, others are offered on demand or are simply available online.

To make it easier for you to find the right course fit for your needs, we made available a range of filters, between them the cybersecurity level addressed (device / network / system / data / user centric), the delivery format (face-to-face / online / blended), the content type (theoretical / hands-on). Starting now on, you can also sort our offer based on the dates via the Timing filter.

For a snapshot on what’s next to come, have a look in the following table. Some of the courses have already opened the registration process so hurry up and book your spot.

Other courses and trainings could be offered on demand or are already available online.

The CONCORDIA map of courses is open to the whole European ecosystem. If you are a course provider offering short courses and / on trainings targeting cybersecurity professionals and would like to have your content plotted on the CONCORDIA map, drop us an email at contact@concordia-h2020.eu.

The post The map of courses for professionals got updated appeared first on CONCORDIA.

The Cybershare Academy for Schools ran during the week December 6 – December 10, 2021. The event was coordinated by ADeSE Romanian NGO in partnership with CONCORDIA project, and with the involvement of the Romanian National Cyber Security Directorate (DNSC).

The event brought together 93 high-school students and 14 teachers coming from 11 schools from Romania and Croatia, interested to learn about cybersecurity and to compete in a Capture-the-Flag challenge.

The week started with introductory talks by Gabi Dreo (Coordinator CONCORDIA) and Dan Cimpean (Director DNSC) on why should school students choose a career in Cybersecurity. It continued with the presentation of the results of the CONCORDIA survey for high-school related on the type of cybersecurity and cybersafety related content and delivery methodologies fit for high-school level. The day closed with a panel on Women in Cyber during which the audience was briefly introduced in the activities initiated by CONCORDIA to increase the number of women in cybersecurity, followed by a dialogue with three charismatic women cybersecurity professionals who shared with the audience their experience in the area, and encouraged girls to consider pursuing a career in cyber.

For three days in a row the students and the teachers attended workshops based on their interest. The agenda covered topics such as Be Internet awesome, Network Attacks and Authentication & Authorization aimed at introducing cybersecurity topics at a basic level, and Forensic: Steganography, CyberSecurity101, Cryptography and Common Web Applications Attacks addressed mainly to the students interested to compete in the challenge.

The week closed with a two hours Capture-the-Flag contest ran under the CONCORDIA KYPO cyber-range platform. No less than 19 teams of about 5 students each tried to crack the challenge. Worth mentioning that out of the 93 students participating in the challenge, 15% were girls.

And the winners were:

1. Team “MastersOfCeremony” – XIII. Gimnazija, Zagreb, Croatia
2. Team “Vianu Team” – Colegiul Național de Informatică Tudor Vianu, Bucharest, Romania
3. Team “The Gentlemen” – Technical school Čakovec, Čakovec, Croatia

CONGRATULATIONS!

The post Cybershare Academy for School 2021 – Update appeared first on CONCORDIA.

Courses for cybersecurity professionals

new look, new fields, new content

It’s been more than two years since we have launched the CONCORDIA map displaying short courses and trainings for cybersecurity professionals.
The map is complementing the ENISA database of university related programs, and aims at showcasing in a structured way relevant content from all over Europe, thus contributing to building a European Education Ecosystem for Cybersecurity.

We are now coming back to you with great news. The CONCORDIA courses map was revamped and includes new features for the benefit of both the end users such as corporates, SME/startups, specialized organizations, individuals, and the course providers.

• Are you looking for cybersecurity related courses? Check the “Discover Cybersecurity Courses around Europe” tab – more filters coming soon
• Are you a course/training provider? Check the “Register a cybersecurity course/training” tab – you will get access to the platform through a personal profile under which you can upload and manage the content of up to 10 courses/trainings.
• Are you interested to learn more about our work on Education? Check the “Cybersecurity Education – Additional Information” tab and look for the news

The CONCORDIA courses map 2.0 is officially launched on September 15, 2021 and replaces the first version while keeping the same LINK. We hope that you will find this version of the map more practical, and we will welcome any feedback on it at contact@concordia-h2020.eu.

The post CONCORDIA map 2.0 appeared first on CONCORDIA.

Mid May we have successfully ran a 3 half-days webinar, the second part of the pilot course addressing the Cybersecurity Consultant role profile.

The Course “Becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant” was developed and deployed by applying elements of the CONCORDIA Methodology for creating courses for cybersecurity professionals [Link].

WHAT?

The Course is structured in two parts and is organized around three main learning objectives:

1. Threats – Get updated on the existing and emerging cybersecurity threats, the assets possible to be impacted, and the latest models of attacks.
2. Technology – Become knowledgeable about specific technological threats, learn how to anticipate and prevent them, while developing proactive management skills.
3. Economics – Get an understanding of the economics behind cybersecurity activities within your organization. Learn about risk management and information security to protect the corporate reputation and preserve customer loyalty.

For WHO? and HOW?

The Course aims at helping individuals already active in the cybersecurity area acquire a set of knowledge and skills we have identified as relevant and important for the European market. The Course is suitable also for individuals planning to follow a career in cybersecurity, including middle managers and executives.

We invite you to check the Course page [Link] to discover the set of knowledge and skills covered by the course, and the content of the two parts: the online module, and the face-to-face module.

WHAT more?

We attached to the Course “Becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant” the skills certification scheme “Certified Cybersecurity Consultant”. People attending the course will get access to the Certification exam – C³ by CONCORDIA.

Interested?

The next round of the Course “Becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant” is planned for October 2021. Should you be interested to be informed when we will open the registration process you can drop us an email at contact@concordia-h2020.eu.

In order to help you take the decision, we list below the testimonials received from the participants to the pilot course and addressed to the future potential applicants.

“Gain hands-on experience on evaluating and dealing with protection of assets and get a chance to discuss with other experts on the field of cybersecurity.”

“The course is well laid out and organized into different modules, with a lot of interesting details in each module included, and quizzes to keep you engaged with the content. Also, the exercises in the hands-on sessions are cool and can entice your interest to look into these tools further, beyond the duration of the course.”

“A great overview with practical examples of how to tackle security in cyberspace.”

“This was exactly what I needed to improve my knowledge in cybersecurity”

“One of a kind! State of the art tools and technologies presented in a comprehensive manner! A must have for any cybersecurity professional!”

“Even some of the topics may look easy or too common, it is very important to have such a course that puts all these things together.”

“Great seminar to start your cybersecurity consultant career in which you will learn from a variety of topics covering a wide aspect of security from technical to financial.”

“Very well-structured course, offers a complete overview of the several cybersecurity aspects. Perfect for beginners.”

The post The pilot Course “Becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant” just closed – What’s next? appeared first on CONCORDIA.

Cybersecurity is a major concern for our societies at large. Children start using internet at early ages and more than 90% of young Europeans are online. Using internet brings a lot of benefits linked to information and communication but it comes with certain risks: privacy violation, identity theft, ransomware, fraudulent usage of debit card, etc. It is therefore of paramount importance that new generations are made aware and kept updated about the major threats, new technologies as well as appropriate individual and collective behaviors in order to reduce risks.

Teachers can play a major role in raising the awareness among their pupils about Cybersecurity and in spreading and disseminating a risk-prevention culture. While they are more and more sensitive to Cybersecurity issues and started acquiring fundamental notions in this area, there is a need for a structured approach to teach cybersecurity related topics to young Europeans.

The Survey

Within CONCORDIA project, we aim to work out and suggest high-school teachers teaching methodologies and associated materials to utilize when discussing cybersecurity with their pupils. In view of understanding the real needs we have developed a survey via which we plan to collect input from the following audience:

• European high-school Teachers,
• European high school Students
• European Parents of high school students European
• European school Management

The objective of this Survey is three-fold:

• RELEVANCE: To select the most needed topics to be covered in the materials.
• EFFECTIVENESS: To define the most appropriate format for the materials to be developed.
• NOVELTY: To identify areas not (enough) covered by existing programs.

Get involved

Help us suggest teachers teaching methodologies and materials to address cybersecurity in high-school by filling in the Survey [LINK]

The post Cybersecurity in High-school – a Survey appeared first on CONCORDIA.

No matter the industry, a Cybersecurity Consultant should perform a varied number of tasks thus should proof (s)he acquired a specific set of knowledge and developed specific skills and abilities.

Following the workshop we ran in June 2020 (see CONCORDIA Education postworkshop Report) and based on the input received from the participants, we have created a set of lessons in support of those professionals interested to develop the set of knowledge and skills necessary for becoming a Cybersecurity Consultant.

The course targets individuals planning to develop a career in cybersecurity, middle managers and executives. The course covers the following main learning objectives: Threats – Technology – Business Economics and it is structured in 2 modules: an online part and a face-to-face/live webinar part.

The structure of the course

The online course is designed to cover theoretical concepts a Cybersecurity Consultant (medium level) should know. It is structured in 4 modules (Cybersecurity Principles; Offensive Methods, Defensive Methods; Risk Management) and is proposed at being completed in about 3-4 weeks-time while allocating about 2-3 hours a week.

The learners finalizing the online part could develop further their knowledge and skills by attending a face-to-face / live webinar during which the theoretical concepts will be further developed via case studies and hands-on exercises. Both the online module and the face-to-face/live webinar part are scheduled to be piloted in the first quarter of year 2021. Following the pilot phase and after refining the content based on the feedback received, the course in full will be open to the European market.

Getting certified

By finalizing the online course and attending the face-to-face /live webinar complementary module the participants will acquire the knowledge and develop the skills needed in view of applying for the Cybersecurity Consultant Skills Certification Scheme we will pilot in conjunction to this course.

Learn more

Are you interested in receiving updates on the Course Becoming Cybersecurity Consultant and the associated Skills Certification Scheme?

Register to the CONCORDIA Newsletter and/or follow us on social media via LINK

The post Becoming Cybersecurity Consultant appeared first on CONCORDIA.

In the context of information and awareness about Cybersafety, Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) organized experiential workshops for 55 teachers and students, in June. Specifically, teachers and 10-12 aged students attended Cybersafety courses in their school environment. The main purpose of the courses was to spread awareness and show the teachers how to provide guidance and help the students to understand the online social network dangers and teach them how to cope with them appropriately. Furthermore, both the teachers and the students were informed about the latest technological findings that can help them in addressing the online threats towards a safer social network life.

The workshop started with a discussion about the usefulness and the value of joining social network platforms and how people use them in their daily life, nowadays. In addition to all the benefits of online social networks, the participants learned about the dangers and risks one may encounter by joining them. Some of the issues addressed were Cyberbullying, sexual harassment, personal information leakage, fake accounts, exposure to inappropriate content etc.

An advisory session followed, where representatives of CUT presented risk avoidance and handling techniques. With this occasion teachers and students discovered some easy steps to keep their profiles private and protected. Additionally, the students were advised on how to react to the online threats that might occur and were pointed to the important role of the teacher in helping them to cope with these risks. Lastly, the teachers and the students were presented with the latest technology cybersafety tools that can help enhance online safety while using social network platforms.

Finally, during the experiential workshops, the participants had the chance to interact with “Cybersafety Family Advice Suite” (CFAS), a suite of cybersafety tools designed by CUT lab. The tools promote the collaboration of minors and their custodians to monitor, filter, block inappropriate content in online social media platforms, and detect incidences of online risks such as cyberbullying, sexual harassment, etc.

During the workshops, 16 students responded to an evaluation questionnaire about the “CFAS” tools. Some important generic observations are presented below. They help us in a better understanding of the characteristics of the group, their online “habits” and knowledge about the cyber related risks, thus allowing us to tailor the tools and the associated materials to their needs, in a better way.

1. The majority of children have their own account in online social media. Additionally, several of the participants responded as not having their own account but noting that they join the online social media networks through their parents’ accounts.

   

2. All participants reported having a Youtube account, followed by Instagram (50%), Snapchat (40%) and Tiktok (30%). Viber (20%) and Facebook (10%) which was less used by minors of this age. These results indicate the urgent need to design cybersafety tools that are compatible with multiple social media platforms.

   

3. Minors are well aware of the online risks other people have experienced while using social media. Those results show that minors have in mind many risks that may be encountered in social media platforms.

   

4. Minors believe that cybersafety tools can enhance their online safety while using online social platforms. That shows that minors are aware of and can understand the usefulness of such tools in improving their online experience.

   

Based on the students’ evaluation of the CFAS tool, the platform is planned to be redesigned as to add the role of the teacher in the suite and make it suitable to be also used in the school environment.

Get involved!

Are you a teacher interested to test the “Cybersafety Family Advice Suite” (CFAS) tool with your students? If yes, drop us an email at contact@concordia-h2020.eu and we will get in contact with you.

More details on the workshops: https://netsysci.cut.ac.cy/a-cybersafety-meeting-with-aradippou-a-primary-school-students/

The post Cybersafety workshops in school appeared first on CONCORDIA.

• If you are a cybersecurity course provider and you would like to see your course displayed on the Concordia map, let us know by filling in this form.
• If you are an interested in reskilling or upskilling your knowledge in the area of cybersecurity as a professional, a mid-manager or an executive, a freelancer, we invite you to check the CONCORDIA map. Online or offline courses, theoretical or hands-on trainings, our “basket” of courses covers them all. Just play with the different filters to identify the right course for you.

And to give you some insights content wise, we mapped the courses against the five centric security levels of the data-driven approach pledge by CONCORDIA and this is what we’ve got:

More about the Concordia map of courses [ https://www.concordia-h2020.eu/news/towards-a-european-education-ecosystem-for-cybersecurity/ ]

The post CONCORDIA map: 60+ cybersecurity courses collected in 6 months appeared first on CONCORDIA.