Seniors Go To War Against Cyber Bullies

Tuesday, April 9, Brazos Communications donated the use of their conference room for a cybersecurity class for senior citizens.

Billie Mullins, a representative for Brazos Communications—one of the largest internet providers in the area—said, “We use the internet in our daily life for most everything we do. So anytime Brazos Communications can do anything to help [our] customers protect themselves, [we] are all about helping facilitate that as part of [our] community service.”

Dr. Mike Winslow and Mitzi Morrison were the instructors for “Cyber Generations,” a class about cybersecurity tailored specifically for senior citizens. Some of the topics the instructors covered included password management, social media safety, internet scams and fraud.

Winslow—a member of the Air Force Association (AFA) for more than 40 years—helps support the association’s mission by educating the public about security issues facing the nation such as cybersecurity. He said, “If there is only one thing you do, although there are many things you should do, be suspicious of everything you come across through the internet including email and web browsing. Hackers and scammers will try to trick you with things that look familiar to you.” For example, an email that may seem like an official communication from one of your utility providers, or an email that looks like an email sent by a friend..

The second instructor, Mitzi Morrison, not only teaches senior citizens, but also teaches second-graders through high-schoolers cybersecurity classes.

Morrison said the cybersecurity program is the No. 1 program in the world that was first introduced by the AFA in 2009 to teach cybersecurity to children at an early age.

Junior high and high school students have an opportunity to compete in Morrison’s Cyber Patriot program. Although the competition has ended for this year, teachers across the nation are already preparing students, with Morrison’s help, for the competition next year. The competition includes activities such as securing vulnerabilities on computers. Morrison said, “Big companies such as Google will be present and have [previously] offered jobs to competitors who are at least 18 [years old].” Morrison said the cybersecurity industry growing each year, and is creating a significant demand for new cybersecurity experts. For more information about the competition, you can go to https://www.uscyberpatriot.org.