Information security is no longer a matter for specialists: it has become a subject that concerns everyone. Every day we read of large-scale breaches, of ransom attacks on public bodies and companies, of the growing threat of cyber warfare.
Inside this story a dangerous distance is widening: between the speed at which threats grow and our ability to understand them. It is that distance that leaves people, companies and states exposed.
To find your way in so uncertain a digital environment, education in security has to become a priority, and it has to be built from the ground up. In an age when children meet the digital world very early, they should be taught how much protecting their own identity online matters, and how to do it. It ought to be as elementary as teaching them to look both ways before crossing the road.
As schooling advances, teaching should address more complex threats: email fraud, ransom attacks, the consequences of sharing personal information. And anyone studying disciplines connected to handling data should receive specific, in-depth training.
One subject deserves a place of its own in the curriculum: cryptography. It works almost entirely behind the scenes, yet it protects our mail, our card details and much else as they travel across networks. It is one of the principal guardians of our privacy, and almost nobody knows it exists.
Do we want the benefits of an ever more connected society? Then we have to prepare for the risks that progress brings. Taking information security into every level of education, from the playground to the boardroom, means building an instinct, like locking the door on the way out.
Originally published on LinkedIn. Reviewed by the author.