Security Education 101
Whether you're new to computer security concepts or you're new to teaching, there's a place for you.
We've written teaching tips for beginners who want to share their digital security knowledge in single day sessions with friends and neighbors.
We encourage new digital security trainers to teach in pairs: plan your workshops with a friend.
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Quick start
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★ Start here ★
Am I the Right Person?
Read MoreFigure out if you’re positioned to lead a training in the community you’d like to help. Evaluate your preparedness: set you and your learners up for success in your training event, and inspire them to continue learning about digital security.
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Must read
The Harm Reduction Approach
Read MoreNavigate the complex process of teaching your learners how to avoid risky security practices, while providing a safe learning environment. Harm reduction strategies ensure you are able to help them explore their options and improve their habits.
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Must read
Learning About Your Audience
Read MoreExamine your relationship to the people you’ll be teaching to ensure clear communication, accurate understandings of their points of view, and a flexible approach to different experience levels. Knowing the diverse needs of your audience sets you up for a successful event and empowers learners to make good choices.
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Must read
Building Your Superhero Team
Read MoreIt’s dangerous to go alone! Take a companion: discover how teaching as a team is a useful way to round out expertise and complement teaching styles and learning preferences. Explore the ways collaborative trainings can give learners more individualized instruction and helps build a sense of community.
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Things We Wish We Knew Before We Started Teaching
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How to Teach Adults
Read MoreIt’s tempting to teach digital security as though it were a classroom lecture. Read about adult learning principles and level up your teaching practice.
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Cultural Sensitivity
Read MorePrepare lessons that can be adapted to meet the different threat models and security concerns of your audience. Broaden the accessibility of security education with inclusive strategies that welcome a wide set of life experiences, cultural differences, and perspectives.
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Catering to Multiple Learning Preferences
Read MoreFamiliarize yourself with the various personal, cultural, and social factors that influence the ways your students learn. Learn how to foster an environment where every participant is able to practice their security and privacy skills in the way that works best for them.
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Drawing from Inclusive Education
Read MoreHow to provide the best learning experience possible for students who may have invisible needs and disabilities. Build your knowledge of accessible resources, activities, and accommodations for a variety of learning needs and disabilities.
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When You Are Out of Scope
Read MoreFind out when to say “I don’t know” in order to reduce harm, limit misinformation, and help learners develop their intuitions. Discover where the boundaries of your expertise lie and when to steer learners towards other resources.
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When Different Threat Models Are in the Same Room
Read MoreNot sure what to do with a roomful of diverse risks and concerns? Set expectations, find common denominators, stay focused on the group, and team up with a friend.
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Encouraging Ongoing Learning and Engagement
Read MorePeople learn at different paces. Explore how to help each person advance in how they approach digital security.
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Planning Your Workshop
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Training Logistics: Things to Consider
Read MoreExplore how to identify your prospective learners and establish a working relationship with stakeholders. Grow your potential audience through conscientious planning and leveraging of community support.
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Learning Objectives
Read MoreLearn how to define specific and attainable objectives to help focus your trainings. Explore how to evaluate objectives that will provide students with clear goals of what they will accomplish during a training and how it will be applicable in their daily lives.
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Icebreakers
Read MoreDiscover the various ways of creating a safe, welcoming space in your trainings through introductory activities that allow participants to relax and build community. Determine the best options for your particular audience and their threat models, cultural differences, and comfort level.
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Training Prep
Read MoreEstablish and set clear expectations for the content and format of your training to set you and your learners up for success. Define a set of objectives to meet during your training, create a lesson plan to meet those goals, and test your strategies to prepare for potential challenges.
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Your First Training
Read MorePrepare yourself as a first time trainer and arm yourself with useful tools, awesome collaborators, and rigorous lesson plans. Get an overview of the different methods for prepping a fun and educational first training.
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Considerations for Teaching Digital Security
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Thinking About Different Devices and Operating Systems
Read MoreLearn to be open-minded about the devices and operating systems your learners use. Expand your framework to include users with different preferences, needs, and restrictions when it comes to the technology they use and the advice you give to learners.
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Techie Power! And How It Can Get In The Way
Read MoreAre you a naturally shy or an innately outgoing techie teaching digital security? We have some tips for being mindful of your natural social inclinations.
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A Word on Touching Other People’s Devices: Don’t.
Read MoreHands off! Give people room to learn and help participants feel more comfortable with their own devices.
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Hitting the Sweet Spot of Engaged Learning
Read MoreExplore how to be mindful of your audience’s emotional states, and help them to feel engaged to learn.
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Fear is the Mind Killer: Rethinking Demos
Read MoreExplore how insecurity demonstrations can be used to destroy trust between learners and trainers, and can even harm the training by making learners unable or unwilling to engage with the material. Learn to instill harm-reduction and trust-building security demonstrations into your training for the best learning outcomes.
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Why Your Audience Should Care—And Act
Read MoreNot sure what to say when someone doesn’t see the value in learning about digital security? Try out some of these ideas.
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Technical Concepts and How They Fit Into the Bigger Picture
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Recommending Tools
Read MoreInvestigate how to reduce harm to participants when recommending tools. Practice how to help your learners make informed decisions on what tools best match their personal circumstances while providing a supportive learning environment to explore their options.
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The Minimum Viable Teaching—When You Have No Time To Teach or They Have No Time to Listen
Read MoreSometimes, there isn’t enough time to give nuanced advice. For those times, you may want a short pitch on security.
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Software Updates and Why They're Important
“Keep your software updated!” is the closest thing we have to security advice that will work for everyone. But the reasoning behind it can be counterintuitive, and even quick updates can intolerably interrupt people’s workflows. Below are several common questions about why it is so important to update one’s...Read More -
Different Types of Encryption
Read MoreDevelop your understanding of how encryption keeps your and your learners’ messages unreadable and protected. Learn to differentiate between the different types of encryption and how they protect users’ information.
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An Overview of Web Browsing Security
Read MoreReview how web browsing security works and the various ways you and your students can protect your browsing information from being viewed. Improve your existing browsing security habits with a suite of tools that provide protection in different circumstances.
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Other Articles
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The Cloud is Just Someone Else’s Computer
Read MoreWe asked trainers what concepts were “aha moments for them. Here’s one such concept.
"The cloud is just someone else’s computer."
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