Unit 1 – Lesson 1 – “Cyberspace and Cybersecurity”
4 Days
This lesson establishes an understanding of cyberspace and cybersecurity. Cyberspace has been described as virtual, global, borderless, interconnected, cultural, and social, yet its existence depends upon some very real, physical components. Our dependence upon cyberspace is why we need to understand it, and the challenges of securing it.
Unit 1 – “What is Cybersecurity?”
11 Days
Unit 1 opens the topic of cybersecurity by examining some early hacks of telecommunication systems and the Internet. It begins with an exploration of early hacks and then transitions into what cyberspace is and engages students in the notion of cyberspace being a complex system. Next, the unit delves into what it means for the Internet to be an open architecture and explores how the openness of the Internet is both virtue and vice. The example of cloud storage is used to illustrate complexity. The unit brings sharp focus on why cybersecurity is needed and for whom cybersecurity is needed. Next, the unit offers the foundational model of CIA in a manner that both introduces these concepts and affords exploration of what they are and why they matter. The unit then explores how cybersecurity impacts the quality of people’s lives through an examination of digital participation worldwide and the rise of IoT. The unit ends with engaging students in the messy work of considering ethical obligations involved in cybersecurity and how complex systems are not easy to predict or model.