3rd Annual 'Cyber Comp' Invites Registrations From Schools Nationwide

Auckland, New Zealand – 30 April 2024 – Grok Academy is excited to announce the opening of registrations for the third annual Cyber Comp, offering New Zealand students nationwide practical experiences in online safety and security.

Beginning on 20 May, the four-week Cyber Comp is part of the Cyber Skills Aotearoa initiative, which has enrolled over 20,000 students since its launch in 2022, equipping them with vital cybersecurity skills.

Cyber Comp challenges students to think about how a hacker might scam them. Students collect personal information found in the social media profiles of fictitious characters. The activities demonstrate the importance of keeping personal information secure; the value of using strong, unique passwords, and how encryption works. Students also learn how to protect themselves from identity theft and common scams like phishing.

In 2023, 24% of incidents reported to CERT NZ included some form of financial loss, with a combined total loss of $18.3 million. The top three incident categories last year were Phishing and Credential Harvesting, Scams and Fraud, and Unauthorised Access.

Cyber Skills Aotearoa provides comprehensive cybersecurity education to all schools, kura, and kura kaupapa Māori in English and te reo Māori, targeting students in years 6 to 13. In addition to Cyber Comp, four courses cover information privacy and security, web application security, and cryptography.

Through engaging with real-world cybersecurity scenarios, students learn vital skills such as protecting personal information, creating strong and unique passwords, and understanding encryption. These hands-on activities are structured to help students recognize and defend against common online threats, including identity theft and phishing scams, reinforcing the importance of cybersecurity in their daily lives.

"The strong enrolment numbers reflect the growing recognition of cybersecurity education's importance within schools throughout Aotearoa New Zealand," says Dr. James Curran, founder of Grok Academy. "Cyber Skills Aotearoa offers a meaningful way for teachers to introduce students to essential cybersecurity practices, ensuring they are prepared to navigate the digital world safely and arming them with the knowledge and tools to safeguard themselves and their whānau."

The content was developed through collaboration with government, educators, and industry; Tātai Aho Rau CORE Education, Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education, AWS, ASB, BNZ, CERT NZ, Network for Learning (N4L, )The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa, the New Zealand Government.

Cyber Skills Aotearoa was adapted from the successful program designed by not-for-profit, Grok Academy which has to date been experienced by over 212,000 Australian school students.

The full Cyber Skills Aotearoa program consists of four courses:

• Information Privacy and Security Challenge (Secondary Schools Version)

Students gain a sound grounding in cyber-secure behaviour and practices, including awareness about sharing personal information, using strong passwords, and avoiding scams and phishing messages. Videos explain cyber security concepts and showcase New Zealand cyber security professionals and careers.

• Information Privacy and Security Challenge (Primary & Intermediate Schools Version)

Similar to the Secondary Schools version but with content more appropriate for a younger audience.

• Web Application Security Challenge

Students learn about URLs, basic HTML and how web applications secure data. This Challenge uses fake websites to introduce these concepts, so students can experiment with exploiting unsafe websites in a safe, ‘sandboxed’ environment.

• Cryptography Challenge

This Challenge introduces basic cryptography concepts using data representation, which impacts the way we secure online communication. It teaches classic cryptographic ciphers and explains the techniques used to break these forms of encryption.

To take part in the Cyber Comp challenge, visit https://grokacademy.org/cybercomp-nz/ .For more details on Cyber Skills Aotearoa and the registration process, please visit grok.nz/cyber.

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