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Unit 4 – Lesson 1 – “Data – About”

1 Day

In cyberspace, data exists about everyone. The data, in its basic form, is a bit stream of zeros and ones. But these “bits” have meaning and reveal information about systems, protocols, and the structure of cyberspace. These bits also represent one’s personal information, information about their life, and external information that is used to infer one’s thoughts and behavior. Disclosing, disrupting, deceiving, and misusing data in cyberspace can invade our privacy, adversely affect our fundamental rights, and threaten our welfare. This lesson introduces data security concerns and methods for overcoming those concerns.

Unit 4 – Lesson 4 – “Data – Controls”

1 Day

Data must be protected in each state. The protection is usually achieved with multiple controls. This lesson addresses common controls including physical and technical controls, policies, and cybersecurity laws.

Unit 4 – Lesson 3 – “Data – States”

1 Day

Data can be in three different states: at rest, processing, and in transit. It must be protected in each of these states. This lesson focuses on data security concerns and methods to overcome those concerns while understanding the requirements for protecting data at rest (storage), in transit (networks), and while processing.

Unit 3 – Lesson 4 – “Networks Abound”

2 Days

This lesson explores society’s use and reliance on computers and networks and the challenges of securing information within those systems. Data changes fast; it is not tangible; it can be duplicated very fast; we can lose it without even knowing it. Data stored on hardware can corrode, software can be corrupted, and data transmitted in networks can be lost completely. We do not have control over our electronic data (i.e., social media posts) like we do our physical data (i.e., your personal diary). This last lesson of Unit 3 is intended to be a bridge to the first lesson of Unit 4, which begins with defining data and explaining why it is important to protect data.

Unit 3 – Lesson 1 – “Hardware and Software”

8 Days

The first lesson of Unit 3 is an introduction to computer hardware, software, and operating systems. Software is a set of instructions that execute on hardware. In this lesson, students learn the basics of hardware and software and how they work together to achieve an overall objective. This lesson also includes an introduction to the Linux OS.

Unit 8 – Lesson 2 – “Cyber as an Instrument of Power”

3 Days

This lesson extends the analysis of how cybersecurity is both a deeply technical and a deeply political space.  The lesson starts by considering power as benevolent, benign, and malevolent. The lesson then has students explore cyber as an instrument of power.  Students select one of two topics: 1) Cyber Weapons and The Changing Nature of War or 2) Technopower/Technowar.  Through research and guided questions, students create an infographic on what they learned about cyber as an instrument of power.  Students share their findings to educate each other using a poster session.

Unit 8 – Lesson 1 – “Cybersecurity Diplomacy in Action”

12 Days

This lesson explores how cybersecurity is both a deeply technical and a deeply political space.  The cybersecurity technology that is the focus of this unit is end to end encryption.  The political issue is encryption backdoors (also known as The Cryptowars), which are methods of getting around encryption or authentication in a system. Students learn about the National Security Council (NSC) and explore competing social values and ideologies that are forces in The Cryptowars.  Building on this foundation, students then dive into a deeper understanding of the values and tensions by participating in a simulation where they play different roles in the National Security Council tasked with making a recommendation to the President of the United States.  A goal of the simulation is to reveal how cybersecurity practices are highly complex and variable causing tensions between what ethical duties are, to whom the ethical concern should be considered, and whose interests should be invested in protecting. The lesson ends by engaging students in analyzing the relationship between ethics and laws and reflecting on their own personal values and beliefs.