Developing a Unique Android App-driven Nifty Middle-School Educational Module on Mobile Security for Driving Basic Information Security Awareness and Generating Interests in Cybersecurity: (Abstract Only)

With the growing demand for cybersecurity workforce, as we look to prepare our youth in cybersecurity, a lack of basic awareness about mobile device security and limited practical knowledge in securing mobile devices may expose our young generation to data hacks and cyber-attacks. The current IEEE/ACM CS2013 curricular recommendations and the latest CSEC2017 cybersecurity curriculum guidelines clearly point to a need for inclusion of mobile security related topics within the present CS knowledge areas. However, even though there are limited mobile security-based curriculum development initiatives at the K-12 level, none of them focus on the theme of mobile app related permissions, vulnerabilities and exploits. Therefore, in order to address this gap in mobile security based K-12 experiential learning, we have designed and developed a unique Android app-driven information security-based learning module for educating middle-school (fifth to ninth grade) learners about relevant cybersecurity topics, like good password practices, ethics, Android app permissions, vulnerabilities, exploit-based hacking, using an Android device. This poster will describe our creative mobile security theme-driven middle-school educational module, including our original unique Android app, which has been successfully used to conduct several hands-on workshop sessions for middle-school students as part of our Google IgniteCS outreach program and the NSA GenCyber camp program. Our poster will also present the survey data collected from middle-school participants in an effort to evaluate mobile security-based experiential learning model as a potential cybersecurity educational interface for engaging K-12 students.