When it comes to being safe online, many people do not have good habits. There are obvious rules of thumb that pretty much every Internet citizen knows—don’t download files from unsafe websites and don’t click links or give out banking information in emails from unknown people.
However, how many people use the same password for every website account? Is your password a recognizable word, or even something like 123456?
Such bad habits can be difficult to break when people get older, so the FBI has developed a cyber safety website to help children develop good online habits while they’re young.
The website is called the FBI Safe Online Surfing (SOS) Internet Challenge, and was developed with assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and with input from teachers and schools.
FBI-SOS has six grade-specific "islands" for third- through eighth-grade students that help teach different aspects of cyber security through games, videos, and other interactive features. Each island has a different visual theme and main character: fifth graders get to explore Volcano Island with a robot, while eighth graders can visit Castle Island with a villager.
After completing seven or eight activities, the students take an online exam, the scores of which are entered into competitions with schools nationwide. The top scoring schools in each category receive and FBI-SOS trophy and possibly a visit from a local FBI agent.
The site itself practices what it preaches: students are identified only by number when taking the exams, and teachers only need to provide their name, the school, and their email address when signing up.
Everyone, including adults, can visit the site at https://sos.fbi.gov.
