SG Cyber Youth Odyssey

SG Cyber Youth Odyssey

A learning roadmap for SG Cyber Youth programme

      The SG Cyber Youth Odyssey was announced by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State (SMS), Ministry of Communications and Information, at the inaugural Advanced Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (A.YCEP) Capture-the-Flag (CTF) Competition organised by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) on 15 December 2021.

2      Cybersecurity is an important growth sector in Singapore’s economy and digital future. As our economy digitalises further and cyber threats continue to grow in scale and sophistication, there is a growing need to build up our cyber talent pipeline today, to meet tomorrow’s demand. Under the SG Cyber Youth programme, CSA supports youths in pursuing a cybersecurity career through facilitating access to cybersecurity bootcamps, competitions, learning journeys, career mentoring sessions and school talks. The programme is one of the key initiatives under Foundational Enabler 2: Grow a Robust Talent Pipeline of the newly updated Singapore Cybersecurity Strategy 2021. SG Cyber Youth has reached out to more than 12,000 youths since 2019.

3      The SG Cyber Youth Odyssey is a learning roadmap [1] which provides clear milestones to guide students in their cybersecurity journey. It is developed in consultation with educators, industry practitioners and training partners. The four stages of the learning roadmap, ‘Excite’, ‘Explore’, ‘Experience’ and ‘Excel’, will guide students with varying degrees of cybersecurity knowledge to explore and further their interest in cybersecurity through participating in activities under SG Cyber Youth, including Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (YCEP), A.YCEP and SG Cyber Olympians. Each stage builds upon knowledge of the previous stages and guides youths towards deeper understanding of cybersecurity topics. The topics covered in the roadmap are wide ranging, and they include fundamentals of cybersecurity, and technical areas such as penetration testing and network security.

4      The SG Cyber Youth Odyssey provides a clear set of learning outcomes and recommended topics to guide the development of activities for SG Cyber Youth. The recommended topics are meant to complement other STEM and Smart Nation initiatives, and activities in schools. The learning roadmap aims to help educators, career counsellors and parents by providing a structured approach to cybersecurity education and career guidance to help youths progress their interest/skills in cybersecurity. The roadmap can also serve as  a reference for industry and training partners to guide the conduct of activities and training for youths at different stages of their journey.

5      The SG Cyber Youth Odyssey is expected to be used by more than 3,000 youths, parents and educators per year. After completing the learning roadmap, youths are encouraged to pursue a cybersecurity course offered by Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and join the cybersecurity workforce. For more details about the learning roadmap, please refer to SG Cyber Youth Odyssey.

[1] Aligned to Bloom’s Taxonomy, a widely-adopted model for learning and curriculum design familiar to educators.

About the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore

Established in 2015, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) seeks to keep Singapore’s cyberspace safe and secure to underpin our Nation Security, power a Digital Economy and protect our Digital Way of Life. It maintains an oversight of national cybersecurity functions and works with sector leads to protect Singapore’s Critical Information Infrastructure. CSA also engages with various stakeholders to heighten cyber security awareness, build a vibrant cybersecurity ecosystem supported by a robust workforce, pursue international partnerships and drive regional cybersecurity capacity building programmes.

CSA is part of the Prime Minister’s Office and is managed by the Ministry of Communications and Information. For more news and information, please visit www.csa.gov.sg.