Safe: Cryptographic Algorithms and Security Principles Gamification

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused dramatic changes in our daily lives. Cyber-attacks have been increasing because of the shift from on-site to online studying and working. Many users have been victims of those attacks without knowing or did not know how to respond to them. Today, there are many cyber-security awareness initiatives;however, they do not seem impactful as victims increase. Unfortunately, these initiatives use traditional education methodology that is considered insufficient nowadays due to the significant growth in technology. Digital native students who came to the world having technology all around them find learning strategies unattractive and disengaging. Hence, staying connected with technology development and changing learning methodologies accordingly is essential. This paper gives an overview of the solution being developed. A cyber-security educational game that includes 11 levels, each level goes over a certain topic, in which players will not be able to pass the level unless they have a certain score of competence in the designated topic. Our project aims to provide a gamified interactive learning experience that educates, develops, enhances creativity and decision-making skills in the field of Information Security. © 2022 IEEE.

Boosting students and teachers cybersecurity awareness during COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 Coronavirus originating from Wuhan, China has become a global pandemic. In order to protect their country's residents, governments worldwide have ordered schools and companies to close and for people to quarantine at home. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of digital devices and activity on the internet. Cybercriminals around the globe have seen this pandemic as an opportunity to initiate cyberattacks. This paper reviews the cyber threats that threaten users globally, as well as some of the attacks that have already occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. We then make suggestions to countermeasure these attacks and what can be done in the future to improve cybersecurity awareness and prevent them from occurring again. © 2021 IEEE.