IBM has released free online security training kits to teach parents, teachers and students about Internet safety and digital responsibility. The move comes as fears rise that a cavalier attitude to security within the upcoming workforce will threaten corporate security.

The training tools were announced on Wednesday in conjunction with Safer Internet Day, and consist of three volunteer kits.

Online safety and privacy

The Control Your Online Identity kit aims to educate teenagers in particular about how to protect personal data and appropriately handle their online image.

Internet Safety Coaching is a tool which covers the basics of security for typical sites visited and online services used by young people, including instant messaging and social networks.

Cyberbullying is oriented towards parents and teachers to teach them how to recognise signs of online bullying and how to prevent it.

IBM intends the three tool sets to be used in co-ordination with lesson plans at schools as well as at out of school activity clubs. The long-term goal will be to ensure indiduals can equally protect their digital profiles and their computers.

“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, in a statement. “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.”

To promote their tools and internet safety as a whole, IBM teamed with various organisations in European countries on Safer Internet Day. In the UK, volunteers visited schools to raise awareness and ‘IBMers’ partnered with the NGO YPNGlobal on their Cyber Champions program, which educates schoolchildren about online privacy.