By Namas Thapa Magar
On the 22nd December 2021, the students of Premier International School in grades 10, 11, and 12 had a short program held at the executive hall of the school on a crucial topic, ‘Cyber Security.’ The short awareness program was hosted by Ms. Supragya Yangzen Lama and Mr. Raees Raj Karnikar who is a skilled executive at the Innovate Nepal Group (ING) skill academy.
The program started with a brief introduction of Mr. Raees and Ms. Supragya who provided an overview of the session and its proceedings. Ms. Yangzen continued the program while speaking about the accessibility of devices by students in the 21st century. She referred to her childhood which according to her was less dependent on technology with no access to mobile devices, and how she only got to have access to a mobile phone; a Nokia flip phone in her 10th grade. She added that today’s generation of students and livelihood needs advanced technology and adaptation to a wide range of mechanisms. To bridge the thoughts of the students, she shared an anecdote on how her brother hacked the internet password of their neighbor because their internet was weak, and how she got involved in the field of Information Technology (IT) and learned about the availability of other platforms. She further raised the question “Would you be comfortable in a house that somebody else has the key to?” which piqued the interest of students.
Interestingly, a real demonstration was also shown where a student was chosen to accompany Ms. Supragya. This exemplified how hackers can get information about individuals. Likewise, she touched on the subject of ransom attacks and various hackers as well as important events that have occurred that are related to cyber security. At the end of the session, Mr. Raees spoke about awareness, and how one can protect themselves from cyber-attacks such as the usage of firewalls, not sharing addresses, etc. At the end of the program, Ms. Pavitra Thapa gave a closing remark sharing some of her personal experiences and thanked Mr. Raees and Ms. Supragya for hosting the program. Overall, it was a fruitful experience that forced students to have different perspectives regarding cyber security.
