A Practical and Hands-On Intro to Ciphers and Signals for Parents and Kids

Learn how to apply custom ciphers and SIGINT in a simple and fun way for kids to learn cybersecurity crypto analysis. Labs are provided for applied learning.

Introduction for Parents and Educators:

There is much discussion around cyber security skills and talent shortages approaching. However, just like the learn2code effort, teaching STEM to kids is not exactly an easy task. Many concepts and hands-on skills are difficult for adults, let alone kids. Cyber and information security has a vast array of knowledge you must master. Cryptography and Signaling is among these skills. Why teach children these skills as opposed to deploying a firewall first? It’s because these skills are used everyday and we see it in movies. This article will briefly cover the use of ciphers for encrypting plain text and decryption as well as the mechanisms (signaling) on delivering plain or cipher encoded messages. For parents that want to provide this information in an hands-on approach using my PowerShell script, please follow along and refer to my github for a copy of the material. The language used in this article have also been simplified so that children can also read along. The recommended grade level to teach this lesson to is 4th grade or higher. Are you ready to take your child’s STEM skills to the next level? Follow the links as well for…