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FBI
Safe Online Surfing
Internet Challenge
Free Cyber Safety Program Redesigned for New School Year
In the Safe Online Surfing (SOS) Internet Challenge, students navigate
through various games and activities on their grade-appropriate island.
The SOS website is accessible year-round, but the testing and
competition is only open to registered teachers and schools from
September through May.
The FBI’s Safe Online Surfing (SOS) Internet Challenge—a free,
educational program for children that teaches cyber safety—has been
redesigned for the 2017-2018 school year, with new graphics and updated
content.
The new SOS program, created for students in third through eighth
grades, covers age-appropriate topics, such as cyberbullying,
passwords, malware, social media, and more. The program also provides
teachers with a curriculum that meets state and federal Internet safety
mandates.
While taking the course, participating students “surf” their way
through a variety of Internet safety challenges at each grade level,
with characters guiding them through the games. The latest version of
SOS allows the program to work on more devices, including tablets. The
content has also been refreshed to address current cyber safety
challenges, and the island-theme graphics have been updated.
“Just as we teach our children to lock the front door for their
physical safety, we have to teach them the online equivalents of those
things in the digital age, like creating a strong password,” said Unit
Chief Jonathan Cox of the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs. “SOS helps to
make students better digital citizens in a fun and educational way.”
Last school year, more than 700,000 students across the country
completed the program and took the test, a 41 percent increase from the
previous school year. More than 1.5 million students have participated
and taken the exam since the original program was launched in 2012.
The SOS activities are open to anyone, though to participate in the
testing and challenge, teachers must register their classes. Teachers
manage their students’ participation in the program; the FBI does not
collect or store any student information. Each month from September
through May, the classes with the top exam scores nationwide receive an
FBI-SOS certificate and, when possible, they are visited by local FBI
personnel to congratulate them.
Go to the FBI SOS website here
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