Peer-reviewed article
Cybersecurity education for children: Development of an online application as an internet safety tool
Bojan Mrđa, Dragan Soleša, Marjan Krašna ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper describes the development of an online educational application called 'Cyber Heroes' designed to teach children about cybersecurity and internet safety. The researchers used a survey to identify the most effective approaches to cybersecurity education for children and applied the AHP method to analyse results. The proposed application includes interactive lessons, challenges, simulations, social features, and gamification techniques to increase engagement and learning motivation.
Key points
- The application 'Cyber Heroes' is designed as an interactive, game-based tool for cybersecurity education
- Gamification techniques are integrated to increase children's engagement and motivation to learn
- The application includes interactive lessons, challenges, simulations, and social interaction features
- A survey-based approach was used to determine the most effective methods for teaching cybersecurity to children
- The paper proposes principles and steps for creating cybersecurity education applications targeting children
Limitations
The document presents a conceptual proposal and design process rather than evaluation results from children using the application. There is no data on whether the application actually improves children's cybersecurity knowledge, behaviour, or protection outcomes.
Abstract
This paper explores the process of creating an application for educating children about cyber threats on the Internet. Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important topic in the digital age, and educating children on this subject is imperative for their protection. The goal of this paper is to propose a conceptual solution, along with the steps and principles involved in creating an application to educate children about cyber threats on the Internet. The application offers an interactive and engaging experience for children learning about cybersecurity. The research investigates the most effective approach to educating children by employing a survey. The acquired results are then assessed using the AHP method. Based on the results, we propose a conceptual solution for the most effective way to educate children, as well as suggestions for the creation and implementation of the online application. We provide a detailed proposal for the development of the "Cyber Heroes" application, including identification of the target audience, definition of functionalities, creation of interactive lessons, challenges and simulations, and the implementation of social interactions within the app. Furthermore, the paper explores gamification techniques integrated into the application to increase children's engagement and motivation to learn about cybersecurity. Through the analysis of results and discussion, the paper offers insights into an effective approach to educating children about cyber threats and contributes to the development of strategies for improving Internet safety among the youngest population.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Online educational application 'Cyber Heroes' with interactive lessons, challenges, simulations, social features, and gamification
- Population
- Children (target audience identified but not specified by age)
Key finding
Survey results informed the identification of effective approaches for cybersecurity education