Cybersecurity is about keeping digital devices and sensitive information safe from people or groups who want to steal it or use it for harm. Scouting America this year has introduced merit badges for both cybersecurity and AI.
This need for virtual security has created a rapidly growing career field, said Brig. Gen. Robert K. Bogart. He serves as the commander of the human performance wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
“All of us need STEM,” he said. “We depend on people with STEM degrees to move science forward. It is with that great group of experts and energy that we make inventions and we advance science.”
An invention created at the wing includes a mobile device that measures the vital signs of its holder, also storing information related to that person’s medical history to ensure they receive accurate care “from the battlefield through the planes, trains, all the way to the hospital,” Bogart said.
“These are all important tools for us,” he said.
Cybersecurity also matters on a personal level, said Michael Dunn, an officer in the Air Force who worked with Scouting America to create the cybersecurity badge.
“The digital world is a part of our daily lives, in every single way,” said Dunn.
Scout programs teach boys and girls safety while they’re in the wilderness and elsewhere. Dunn said this new program emphasizes the importance of knowing how to safely operate online.
“It is important that as they use their digital devices, as they engage in online activities like social media and the wonderful things that are online that they can do, that they stay safe, not only to stay safe personally, but also to keep their data, their family, their school, and someday when they have a job, their companies’ systems and data secure,” Dunn said.
Hundreds of local Scouts representing the Tecumseh and Miami Valley Councils walked through workshops about digital safety throughout the day. Activities touched on WiFi security, computer viruses, bullying, digital extortion, encryption and more.
Tecumseh Council CEO Robert Lavoie said Saturday’s event was probably the largest kickoff event in America for the new era of merit badges.
“This is something we desperately need to teach our youth about,” Lavoie said. “And that’s what Scouts is all about: how to do things safely. And this is the next wave of that.”
And a few of the Scouts who attended the workshops told a Dayton Daily News reporter they were excited to learn about their devices. Others were happy to have traveled to another state for a day, some coming from Michigan or further.
Miami University’s Center for Cybersecurity Director James Walden, a speaker on Saturday, said his team focuses on hands-on education to inspire children and teens.
“Events like this are what excites us about the future — young people who are curious, motivated and willing to take on the challenges of our cybersecurity world,” he said.
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