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Cybersecurity Education in the Age of AI: Integrating AI Learning into Cybersecurity High School Curricula

Authors:

Derek BabbAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

Pages 980 - 986

https://doi.org/10.1145/3545945.3569750

Published: 03 March 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly intertwined, with AI and Machine Learning (AI/ML) being leveraged for cybersecurity, and cybersecurity helping address issues caused by AI. The goal in our exploratory curricular initiative is to dovetail the need to teach these two critical, emerging topics in highschool, and create a suite of novel activities, 'AI & Cybersecurity for Teens' (ACT) that introduces AI/ML in the context of cybersecurity and prepares high school teachers to integrate them in their cybersecurity curricula. Additionally, ACT activities are designed such that teachers (and students) build a deeper understanding of how ML works and how the machine actually "learns". Such understanding will aid more meaningful interrogation of critical issues such as AI ethics and bias. ACT introduces core ML topics contextualized in cybersecurity topics through a range of programming activities and pre-programmed games in NetsBlox, an easy-to-use block-based programming environment. We conducted 2 pilot workshops with 12 high school cybersecurity teachers focused on ACT activities. Teachers' feedback was positive and encouraging but also highlighted potential challenges in implementing ACT in the classroom. This paper reports on our approach and activities design, and teachers' experiences and feedback on integrating AI into high school cybersecurity curricula.

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Cited By

Brito FMekdad YRoss MFinlayson MUluagac SStone JYuen TShoop LRebelsky SPrather J(2025)Enhancing Cybersecurity Education with Artificial Intelligence ContentProceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3641554.3701958(158-164)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641554.3701958
Serafim G(2025)The Future of Ethical Hacking: Charting the Uncharted in CybersecurityProceedings of 5th International Ethical Hacking Conference10.1007/978-981-97-8457-8_2(17-30)Online publication date: 28-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8457-8_2
Possaghi IZhang FSharma KPapavlasopoulou S(2024)Design Thinking Activities for K-12 Students: Multi-Modal Data Explanations on Coding PerformanceProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655786(290-306)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655786
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Cybersecurity Education in the Age of AI: Integrating AI Learning into Cybersecurity High School Curricula
1. Social and professional topics

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cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

March 2023

1481 pages

ISBN:9781450394314

DOI:10.1145/3545945

General Chairs:
Maureen Doyle
Northern Kentucky University, USA
,
Ben Stephenson
University of Calgary, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Brian Dorn
University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
,
Leen-Kiat Soh
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
,
Lina Battestilli
North Carolina State University, USA

Copyright © 2023 ACM.

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Published: 03 March 2023

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SIGCSE 2023: The 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

March 15 - 18, 2023

Toronto ON, Canada

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Cited By

Brito FMekdad YRoss MFinlayson MUluagac SStone JYuen TShoop LRebelsky SPrather J(2025)Enhancing Cybersecurity Education with Artificial Intelligence ContentProceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3641554.3701958(158-164)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641554.3701958
Serafim G(2025)The Future of Ethical Hacking: Charting the Uncharted in CybersecurityProceedings of 5th International Ethical Hacking Conference10.1007/978-981-97-8457-8_2(17-30)Online publication date: 28-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8457-8_2
Possaghi IZhang FSharma KPapavlasopoulou S(2024)Design Thinking Activities for K-12 Students: Multi-Modal Data Explanations on Coding PerformanceProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655786(290-306)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655786
Grover SFields DKafai YWhite SStrickland CStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Enduring Lessons from 'Computer Science for All' for AI Education in SchoolsProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 210.1145/3626253.3631656(1533-1534)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626253.3631656
Quiroz PGutierrez FStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Scratch-NB: A Scratch Extension for Introducing K-12 Learners to Supervised Machine LearningProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630920(1077-1083)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
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Khan SIqbal MOsho OSingh KDerrick KNelson PLi LSidnam-Mauch EBannister NCaine KKnijnenburg B(2024)Teaching Middle Schoolers about the Privacy Threats of Tracking and Pervasive Personalization: A Classroom Intervention Using Design-Based ResearchProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642460(1-26)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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Alalawi MMadathil NDarota SAbula WAlrabaee SMelhem S(2024)Evaluating and Boosting Cybersecurity Awareness With an AI-Integrated Mobile App2024 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10893003(1-9)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
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Ismail MAlrabaee S(2024)Empowering Future Cyber Defenders: Advancing Cybersecurity Education in Engineering and Computing with Experiential Learning2024 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10892990(1-9)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
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Alomar BTrabelsi ZQayyum TAmbali Parambil M(2024)AI and Network Security Curricula: Minding the Gap2024 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)10.1109/EDUCON60312.2024.10578588(1-7)Online publication date: 8-May-2024
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Chaudhary AJaved AColombo WManchego F(2024)Exploring the Safe Integration of Generative AI in Cybersecurity Education Addressing Challenges in Transparency, Accuracy, and SecurityAdvances in Teaching and Learning for Cyber Security Education10.1007/978-3-031-77524-6_1(1-21)Online publication date: 28-Dec-2024
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