The Girl Scouts of America announced that members will soon be able to earn cybersecurity badges, with the goal of encouraging girls enrolled in STEM and cybersecurity fields.
The cybersecurity badge is one of the 18 new badges to arrive in 2018. The new badge is part of collaboration with Silicon Valley security firm Palo Alto Networks, and it will be available for the next two years.
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Have you heard the news? GSUSA is working with @PaloAltoNtwks to develop #cybersecurity badges for girls in K-12! https://t.co/d4c58nWREP pic.twitter.com/H6UkHNAyEd
— Girl Scouts (@girlscouts) June 16, 2017
The focus of the partnership is to interest Girl Scouts in technology fields where women are not well represented. There will be a shortage of 1.5 million cybersecurity workers globally by 2020, according to a study by Frost & Sullivan and (ISC)². The Biennial Women in Cybersecurity Report found that women occupy 11 percent of global cybersecurity positions.
Younger Girl Scouts will hone in on data privacy, cyberbullying and protecting themselves online. Older Girl Scouts may learn coding, ethical hacking and creating and maneuvering around firewalls.