Teaching Passwords at a Singapore Secondary School

In April 2022, our company helped run a cybersecurity event at Yusof Ishak Secondary School. I volunteered to take part. My job was to help students think about strong passwords and turn the subject into a game.

The event had different activity stations. Students moved between them, learning about cyberbullying, scams, protecting their data and other things that can go wrong online.

I liked the school building: modern, open and very different from the classrooms I remembered from my own childhood.

But the students were the better surprise. They were around twelve or thirteen, interested in technology and eager to take part. Someone had warned me that the group might be quiet at first. That was not my experience at all.

They were communicative, engaged and full of questions. I had come prepared to get a conversation going. They had already taken care of that part.

The workshop was a very enjoyable way to see a small part of school life from inside.

I arrived to talk about passwords. The students supplied a million questions, which was a much better outcome than a quiet room.