4th Industrial Revolution provides many advantages all over the world by increasing efficiency, productivity and customisation. Cybersecurity becomes one of the biggest challenges in this era, because information becomes an expensive asset dealing with huge data volumes, improving communication with digital environment. Digital devices and information systems increasingly become attractive for cyber-attacks.
Eurostat states, that „…in 2019, approximately 1 in 3 EU citizens aged 16 to 74 reported security-related incidents when using the internet for private purposes in 2019 in the last 12 months. During this period phishing was the most frequent security incident reported in 2019.“ This shows that usage of hardware and software security solutions alone are not very effective fighting with those threats, because no system or security software can guarantee 100% protection from phishing attacks.
Phishing is one of the highest problems because cybercriminals use faster and innovative technological tools to carry out phishing campaigns. According to the Europol’s annual presentation (2019) “…new threats continue to emerge from vulnerabilities in established processes and technologies. Moreover, the longevity of cyber threats is clear, as many long-standing and established modi operandi persist, despite our best efforts.”
Therefore human-driven phishing defence system that leverages human instinct for detection and technology to scale response should be developed and freely available for wide audience. To create human-driven phishing defence, education is required for the user to become capable of identifying and responding to phishing attacks in the correct manner.
The overall international project n° 2020-1-LT01-KA203-078070 “Safeguarding against Phishing in the age of 4th Industrial Revolution” (“CyberPhish”) objectives are to analyse, design, develop and implement an up-to-date curriculum, e-learning materials, blended learning environment, knowledge and skills self-evaluation and knowledge evaluation system simulations for students and other users in order to prevent from phishing attacks, raise competencies in this area for identification and prevention of threats.
It will address the need for awareness and education in phishing attack prevention. The developed e-learning materials, blended learning environment and simulations will be integrated in curricula at the participating Universities as well as provide the opportunity for increased dissemination of knowledge to EU-Citizens through Open Access.
The main intellectual outputs are related to cybersecurity and future competencies and they will include:
1. Study analysis and recommendations: Avoiding phishing attacks and improving critical thinking
2. Course Curriculum and localisation
3. Online learning material
4. Simulations for education (gamification)
5. Self-evaluation knowledge evaluation system
6. Methodological guidelines for trainers and for implementation of „Phishing in age of 4th industrial revolution“.
The main beneficiaries which will be impacted by the project are students at HEIs. Educators, university staff, education centres, business sector (employers and employees) will also have benefit by improving their knowledge and competencies.
All learning products will be tested by and improved after analysis of pilot studies/training and testing in Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Cyprus and Latvia. At least 100 trainees will be invited to the pilot. Additionally, all learning products will be presented to national higher education institutions, and encouraged to be used in CyberPhish curricula. Guidelines will support their implementation. EN versions will be used for dissemination in other European countries for expanded further localization base.
