14.6.2024

The global cost of cybercrime is enormous. If cybercrime were a country, it would be the third largest economy after the US and China. And while businesses and organisations are often cited as examples for losing a lot of money to cybercrime, lately also individuals have started to suffer. These crimes often use household appliances without the owners’ knowledge, making them part of criminal networks.

But not all cybersecurity challenges are limited to such technical attacks. We all face challenges such as fake news, scams, account hacking, and online bullying. For example, romance scams exploit people’s basic need for acceptance and attention, often resulting in victims losing their money to criminals. As a threat, romance scams have existed for ages, but previously the need to meet the victims face to face, and sometimes spend a lot of time with them, limited the scale of the attacks any single scammer could manage. However, with the internet and AI, it is now possible to launch large-scale attacks with individually generated messages with minimal manual effort, making this a much bigger problem for all of us. Here, technical defences can help somewhat, but what you do on your devices is still crucial. Your online behaviour, attitudes, impulsivity, and susceptibility to scams can have a significant impact on your cybersecurity.

To improve cybersecurity, it’s important to focus on human behaviour and personal differences. While companies protect themselves and train their employees, individuals also need ways to protect themselves and their families. The European Commission highlights the importance of digital skills for the future of Europe and the resilience of its citizens. And while the EU is working on legislation to help with this, raising public awareness through learning and education is still key to improving public security.

It is crucial to recognise that people learn in different ways  — some prefer interactive and entertaining methods, such as games and simulations, while others may benefit more from traditional approaches such as reading articles, attending workshops, or watching instructional videos. Our Cyber Citizen project looked at how cybersecurity is taught and learned across the EU, and found that games are, indeed, becoming an increasingly popular way to learn, but that most current cybersecurity games are more educational than entertaining. Yet, it is known that fun games can make learning more enjoyable and effective for many.

Image from the upcoming Cyber City Tycoon game

That’s why we are developing the Cyber City Tycoon game with an emphasis on the fun gaming experience and are studying its impact on peoples’ learning. Also, to cater to the other learning preferences, we are creating the SecPort learning portal to share cybersecurity information with Europeans. SecPort provides various resources and interactive tools to help individuals understand and improve their cybersecurity practices. By combining the fun and engaging elements of Cyber City Tycoon with the comprehensive resources available on SecPort, the Cyber Citizen project aims to make cybersecurity knowledge accessible and engaging for everyone.

Don’t miss out on our upcoming resources – check back in the autumn for more updates and the launch of the Cyber City Tycoon game and the SecPort portal to improve your cybersecurity skills!

Follow our project’s progress on LinkedIn @Cyber Citizen. The next blog will be out next week. 

Marianne Lindroth, Project Manager

“I can’t understand how you humans have time to learn new stuff, Im always busy with my work…Sorry I have to take this call..hello!”

“I can’t understand how you humans have time to learn new stuff, Im always busy with my work…Sorry I have to take this call..hello!”