Minnesota IT Services Leads Event About Internet Safety with the Boys & Girls Club
10/31/2019 3:12:22 PM
October 30, 2019
Emily Shimkus
651-485-1354
St. Paul, MN: Technology surrounds students. Whether they are using school computers to research a project, messaging friends to hang out, or laughing with their families while watching a cat YouTube video, Minnesotan youth are more connected than ever. Online tools and resources can be a great asset for helping students to learn, communicate, and discover, it is just as important to take the time to provide information for how they can stay safe online and for all of us to support a safe online environment.
Minnesota IT Services led an interactive event about internet safety at the Boys & Girls Club – Mt. Airy location as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Minnesota. The event focused on helping students, families and all Minnesotans use the internet safely and securely. Some of the skills students and families can build to stay safe online include managing settings on social networking sites, preventing cyber-bullying, protecting against viruses, and practicing good cyber-ethics. Approximately 32 students aged 9 to 12 participated in the event.
“As kids are spending more and more time on their phones and other devices, it is even more critical that we take the time to share online safety basics with students across the state,” said Minnesota IT Services Commissioner Tarek Tomes. “We want to encourage kids to take advantage of all that technology has to offer, but do so in an environment where they can still be protected.”
At the Boys & Girls Club – Mt. Airy location, youth from 3rd through 8th grades played games to better understand how security software and hardware works to protect their computing devices that are connected to the Internet. The games included taking on roles as Trojans, firewalls, hackers, and anti-virus software ricocheting around a “computer system” and stacking up a giant Jenga set to represent how cybersecurity risks can be balanced by layers of defense. While the students learned about the different types of risks and cyberattacks that could harm their computers, they also spent some time talking about how to safeguard against malicious individuals (cyberbullies and predators) online.
Minnesota IT Services works to protect citizen’s personal information and keep state systems running. Minnesota students and families can visit the /mnit/about-mnit/security/index.jspsecurity section on MNIT's website to get tips and learn more about cybersecurity best practices.
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Minnesota IT Services, led by the state’s Chief Information Officer, is the Information Technology agency for Minnesota’s executive branch, providing enterprise and local IT services to over 70 agencies, boards and commissions. MNIT employs more than 2,000 people across 90 physical locations. Together, we build, maintain, and secure the State’s IT infrastructure, applications, projects and services. MNIT sets IT strategy, direction, policies and standards for enterprise IT leadership and planning. We also serve Minnesotans by connecting all 87 counties, 300 cities, and 200 public higher education campuses across the state on the MNET network. Through public-private partnerships, our team proactively protects the state’s information systems and the private data of 5.5 million Minnesotans.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities serve over 9,000 youth at ten Twin Cities’ locations. The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. The Clubs represent more than 90 years of service to youth. Dedicated staff at ten metro-area locations and a year-round residential camp provide activities and support to more than 9,000 young people from kindergarten through high school graduation. Club sites are placed in targeted neighborhoods where the need is greatest.
Cybersecurity
