Transcript 0:00 [on-hold music] Think about how quickly and how fast our children learn. So teaching kids about cybersecurity early in life is also important to the future of our own industry. 0:16 There is a growing need for cybersecurity professionals. We've been talking about it in the IoT and in all sectors right now that are using them. Everybody needs to understand cybersecurity. 0:29 [on-hold music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:52 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. I hope you are doing your best to stay healthy wherever you might be listening today's show. 1:03 I read something recently that got me thinking about something that I think you'll find very interesting as well. At what age do we need to start thinking and talking to our kids about cybersecurity? 1:18 With all the discussions we've had on this podcast and on this show about cybersecurity, I can't remember asking that particular question. 1:29 At what point do we need to start educating children about what could go wrong in our cyber world? 1:36 I think maybe we're at this point right now, considering everything that's going on around us, that we need to be asking that very question. 1:45 So let's talk about this very subject today on the show, and I really want to hear from you on this topic after the show, and I want you to tweet at me on Twitter and, um, post some comments on LinkedIn as well. 1:58 But later on in the show, I will be interviewing Matt Sharma, head of strategic alliances at MultiTech, and then I'm gonna wrap up the show with Joe Barkai, chair of vehicle at the Internet of Things Program Committee and Society of Automotive Engineers. 2:13 So let's get started. The World Economic Forum put out a piece recently that basically is arguing that we need to start teaching young children about cybersecurity. 2:26 The author, Paul Mee, makes the crucial point that cybercriminals are targeting our children. Now, I don't have any young children anymore. 2:36 All of my children are grown up, but I don't need to have young children around to know that kids today are using technology at a younger age than they did before. The tech they're using has also changed. 2:52 Now, think about that for just a second. Today, school-age children often have access to smartphones, all kinds of smartphone apps, and the internet in general. 3:04 They're sharing data every time they use one of these apps, and how often do we talk about that? There are hundreds of thousands of apps. They can't possibly understand the risks involved with using connected devices. 3:20 Kids' worldviews tend to be so much narrower than our simply because they haven't seen much of life yet. 3:30 If they can't fully understand the potential consequences of sharing data and using connected devices, are we right to trust them with this responsibility? Now, I want you to think about that. 3:45 Again, I don't have school-age children, as I just mentioned. The last thing I want to do in this segment is parent-shame any parent out there who's letting his preteen use a smartphone. That's not my point. 3:59 And on the other hand, I do think it's important that we talk about this very subject. 4:04 And besides the safety of our children and my soon someday grandchildren, we must remember that we're also talking about the next generation of IoT business leaders. So it's a discussion I think we need to have. 4:20 As the technology evolves rapidly all around us, I think even more importantly, kids are starting to take notice, and I think that's an important point we need to address as well. 4:31 They're digital natives, and once they hit a certain age, many of them speak tech fluently without really being taught, which is an interesting point as well, but they're also... Are they also... 4:45 I guess the point that I want to ask is, are they being schooled in cybersecurity? Do they know how to protect themselves, their data, their devices, all of these things? 4:56 Unfortunately, from where I'm sitting, I don't think so. H-Here's some research for all of you to consider. 5:04 In twenty eighteen, child identity fraud, a child identity fraud study from Javelin Strategy & Research proved no target is too young for cybercriminals' greed. And this is the interesting part. 5:17 More than one million children in the US were, were victims of identity theft in just twenty seventeen. A million children were, were identity theft. A million. 5:31 It's staggering to me when I think about that statistic, and it's just one example that cybersecurity isn't an adult issue. It's an everyone issue. 5:43 Last summer, Governor John Bel of Louisiana declared a statewide emergency after a series of cyberattacks were targeted at three different, three different Louisiana school districts. 5:57 I had no idea until I started doing some of this research for this episode.My point is that cybersecurity is a problem that extends far beyond corporations, and businesses aren't the only ones who should be bracing themselves for issues. 6:13 Parents, teachers, and kids themselves need to know what the risks are, how to protect themselves, and how to recognize signs that something is going wrong. 6:24 So now we arrive at this big question that I want you to think about. Should schools be teaching cybersecurity best practices? Certainly in middle school and high school classrooms, I think the answer is simple. 6:38 The answer is yes. 6:39 Whether it's in the curriculum of computer science classes or offered as an extracurricular program, I think cybersecurity absolutely has a place in today's classrooms, and maybe even in a younger set too. 6:54 Maybe we, we might all agree on that. But here's the question. In my research as I continued in doing so much more research today, I came across this book for this little... 7:04 for little ones called Sarah, the Cyber Hero by Emily Rauer, which tells the story of this little girl, Sarah, who earns her superhero cape by shutting down a virus that's affecting her whole town. Now, how cute is this? 7:21 Sarah learned her skills at a cyber education program at school. I'd love to see these programs in more real-life schools. It, it... 7:33 So more, because what I thought about this is kids could be their own superheroes like Sarah. I mean, think about how quickly and how fast our children learn. 7:43 So teaching kids about cybersecurity early in life is also important to the future of our own industry. There is a growing need for cybersecurity professionals. 7:56 We've been talking about it in the IoT and in all sectors right now that are using it. Everybody needs to understand cybersecurity. 8:04 According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, eighty-two percent of respondents in a survey of its IT decision-makers across eight countries report a shortage of cybersecurity skills at their company. 8:20 Eighty-two percent. Seventy-one percent, they believe this talent gap causes direct and measurable damage to their organizations. So the bigger question is, how can we fix this? 8:35 I've already told you how, that we need to start educating kids about cybersecurity. Okay, that's one step. 8:41 Throw more kids into this early, and a lot of them will choose to work in this industry because they'll understand how important it is. 8:50 But no matter what industry these kids decide to go into, they'll have a foundation, an inherent understanding of cybersecurity, which they'll bring with them into every role they take on in the professional world, and that's a powerful thing. 9:08 We really need that type of workforce. That's what we need. We need a workforce that constantly fends off the bad guys. So I guess here's my opinion for today. 9:21 The importance of introducing our children early to cybersecurity is multifaceted. On one hand, it's a way to help protect our children from cybercrime. We get that. 9:35 On the other hand, it's a way to build the sort of cybersecurity-aware workforce that our industry needs, and it's an investment into a future in more than one way. So let me put it another way as well. 9:52 So here's my tip for today. Let's start an industry-wide dialogue about this. Let's not just ignore it. Let's start talking about when should kids start hearing about cybersecurity at school? 10:10 How can industry support early cybersecurity education? Can your company sponsor a cybersecurity program at a local school, a school district? 10:23 Is there a sec- cybersecurity expert at your company who can give a talk for students, teachers, or parents at a local school? What movements can we create? Think about what's happening in our world today. 10:40 We know we need to constantly shore up our supply chain. We need to shore up our cybersecurity. 10:49 All of these things are showing us we need to get better at the things we do, and the more we do this, the more we think about the things that are happening around us, and the more we think about our future, the stronger we're all going to be. 11:03 There's a lot of bad cyber bad guys out there, and we need to think about how do we get a stronger workforce that can do more to protect out there, because there's a lot of bad guys that are going after th- our little ones who aren't... 11:19 don't have the knowledge for what they should know. But we do as adults, and we understand the Internet of things, and we have to be smarter than the bad guys. 11:30 And if we all work together as an industry, well, we can do a lot more things and do a lot better things. But we have to start talking about it. As always, I'd love to hear what you have to say. 11:42 So what do I want you to do? I want you to tweet at me. I want you to start at our social media. Send me your thoughts at ConnectedWMag. 11:49 And that's all the time I have for this segment, but we've got a whole lot more coming right at you. 11:53 We're gonna take a quick commercial break, but I want you to check out our website at connectedworld.com or thepeggySmedleyShow.com. Check out any of our past shows, 'cause there's a lot up there. But stick around. 12:05 There's more to come. As always, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. We'll be right back. 12:16 Go get that quick cup of coffee. [upbeat music]
