Life Education and McAfee Fill the Cyber Education Gap For Young Australians
This announcement coincides with the launch of McAfee’s ‘The Secret Life of Teens’ survey which investigates teens’ online behaviour. The survey highlights a real need for a cyber education program to ensure that children better understand the implications of their actions in the online world. In a study of 500 Australian teens and 500 Australian parents, McAfee has found that of the 95% of teens engaging in social networks around 1/3 are breaking the law through piracy and an alarming number are involved in risky behaviour such as sharing personal information online or even meeting up with a stranger who they met via social networks. View this announcement here.
For more information, please contact Spectrum via mcafee@spectrumcomms.com.au or 02 9469 5700.
Life Education and McAfee Fill the Cyber Education Gap For Young Australians
Together,
McAfee and Life Education Australia Aim to Empower
Hundreds of Thousands of Australian Students and Parents to Stay Safe Online
SYDNEY, Australia, June 28, 2012 – McAfee
today announced a partnership with Life
Education Australia, the largest non-government provider of health
education to children and young people, which will see Australian students
educated on how to stay safe online and develop positive online communication
skills. McAfee will partner with Life Education Australia to expand its national
health and wellbeing program to include cyber safety content from the beginning
of the 2013 school year.
“According to McAfee’s recent Secret Life of Teens research, Australian teens
are spending more time online than ever before, and being exposed to dangerous
activities and behaviour – such as breaking the law through piracy (at a rate
of over 30 per cent), posting sensitive personal information online, accessing
pornography and cyber bullying. This is more common than parents realise. The
report tells us that more than 50 per cent of Australian teens have witnessed
cruelty and cyber bullying, and a staggering 68 per cent are posting personal
content online, exposing them to cyber criminal activity,” said Redman.
The national cyber education program will take the form of a new Life Education
Social Skills and Cybersafety module for middle primary students. Life
Education will utilise McAfee’s expertise and experience in the security
industry in creating Cybersafety content for upper primary students which will
include strategies to deal with unsafe online situations.
“We understand the importance of teaching our kids about cyber safety and want
to do something about it. Life Education is the ideal partner to help McAfee
arm Australian kids with the information they need to build positive
relationships and stay safe online. We are committed to providing parents and
the community with ongoing education and access to cyber safety materials,”
said Redman.
“Life Education Australia has been a trusted and valued partner of Australian
schools for over thirty years, working with over 3500 schools and educating
620,000 students in 2011 alone. While delivering our program to schools over
the past few years, we have received increasing requests from parents and
teachers for a cyber safety and cyber bullying program,” said David Ballhausen,
CEO of Life Education Australia.
“Children’s online behaviour becomes entrenched very early on and if they are
not properly educated about cyber safety, they will not be prepared to handle
the situations they will certainly face online as teenagers,” Redman said.
“This is why we are joining with Life Education Australia to educate children
about cyber safety starting in the middle primary years.”
McAfee and Life Education Australia have both identified a need for greater
awareness-raising and cyber safety education aimed at young Australians. Life
Education Australia’s mission is to empower children to make safe and healthy
decisions, a vision which matches well with McAfee’s initiatives to fight
cybercrime and help Australians stay safe and protected online.
“This national cyber education partnership is a program I am personally very
proud of. I’m happy to say that our team at McAfee Australia will be actively
involved in collaborating with Life Education to protect all Australian’s
online by helping to bridge the cyber education gap,” said Redman.
The cyber security element of the program will align with the State, Territory
and future National Curriculum covering communication, relationships,
decision-making and safety. It will provide knowledge, skills and strategies to
empower children to use technology safely, build positive relationships and
contribute to the safety of others online.
The program will be officially launched and rolled out to schools across
Australia from February 2013.
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About McAfee
McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), is the
world's largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee delivers
proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems, networks,
and mobile devices around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the
Internet, browse and shop the Web more securely. Backed by its unrivalled
Global Threat Intelligence, McAfee creates innovative products that empower
home users, businesses, the public sector and service providers by enabling
them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions,
identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security.
McAfee is relentlessly focused on constantly finding new ways to keep our
customers safe. http://www.mcafee.com/au
Note: McAfee is a registered trademark or trademark of McAfee, or its
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may be claimed as the property of others. 2011 McAfee All rights reserved.
The product plans, specifications and descriptions herein are provided for
information only, subject to change without notice, and without warranty of any
kind, express or implied.
About Life Education:
Life Education is the largest non-government provider of drug and health
education to children and young people, Australia wide. It is well known for
its popular mascot, Healthy Harold the Giraffe.
Life Education works to motivate, encourage and empower children and young
people to exercise real choice – and make informed, safe and healthy lifestyle
decisions, through its leading health education program.
In 2011 Life Education worked in 3,550 schools. Each of these schools
self-selected to partner with it, purchase its services and make available its
program to 620,000 students in their care.
Life Education is a registered charity, independent of both government and
religion which has been operating since 1979.
Over 4 million students have participated in Life Education’s program over the
past 32 years.
For further information on Life Education please visit: www.lifeeducation.org.au.
