IBM Releases Free Internet Security Training Tools To Educate Students, Teachers And Parents On Digital Responsibility

ARMONK, N.Y., Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that in conjunction with Safer Internet Day, ( #SID2012) it will release free Internet safety training tools for students and have thousands of volunteers working to help raise awareness and educate students and businesses on Internet safety and digital responsibility.

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IBM is unveiling three free volunteer kits to better educate students, parents and teachers on Internet safety:

• Control Your Online Identity  - A volunteer education kit, it is designed to help teenagers learn to protect personal data online and reputation online. Teenagers are typically savvy about how to use the Internet, but often unaware about what happens to personal data once it's shared. This presentation and volunteer information helps students learn how to protect personal data and control how they present themselves online.
• Internet Safety Coaching - Aimed at teachers or adults working with children, this is a general primer on Internet safety providing basic information about common Internet activities by young people including instant messaging and social networking.   This kit is designed to raise awareness of Internet safety and how to have a meaningful and open dialogue with children on this topic.
• Cyberbullying -- Aimed at parents or adults who work with children, this activity helps adults learn about how young people use the Internet today and how to recognize cyberbullying symptoms, how to prevent online bullying from happening and how to intervene if it does happen.

"IBMers are committed to helping educate people on ways to safely and securely use the Internet," said Harriet Pearson, IBM Security Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer. "The resources we are donating will help teachers and parents raise awareness that most Internet-based threats to individual and computer security can significantly be reduced by actions that informed users take themselves."

In conjunction with today's announcement, IBM volunteers around the world are educating communities about Internet safety. Some select activities include:

• In Finland , IBM's lead volunteer on Cyberbullying will participate in a national summit at Helsinki City Hall in conjunction with Safer Internet Day. 60 IBM volunteers have already run Cyberbullying workshops for parents in 100 schools across Finland.
• In Germany , IBM will expand its partnership with klicksafe, the national partner of the Insafe network, focusing on the Manage Your Identity Initiative, Already more than 500 IBM, retiree and partner volunteers have delivered over 100 interactive workshops on the topic to more around 3,000 students around the country.
• In Italy , an IBM team will conduct events in local schools using both the IBM materials and a film from Safer Internet Day to discuss Internet safety and cyberbullying.
• In Romania , IBM volunteers are partnering with NGOs APDETIC and Junior Achievement Romania to deliver an Internet Safety session to students focusing on controlling your online identity and Facebook usage.
• In the United Kingdom , IBM volunteers will use the volunteer kits to promote online safety awareness in schools.  IBMers will partner with non-profit YPNGlobal on their initiative called Cyber Champions.