Teachers and advisors

You provide the opportunity and we do the rest with CyberStart America

We know that cybersecurity is a subject that is evolving fast, and it can be difficult to make lesson plans for classroom teaching. This is why the huge range of topics covered in CyberStart Game are up to date, relevant, hands-on and developed by industry experts.

CyberStart America is a free national program for high school students, aiming to uncover hidden cyber talents, promote cyber safety, and to identify and develop the next generation of cyber superstars.

Building on the success of previous CyberStart programs like Girls Go CyberStart, high school students of any gender can now get access to our fun, free online learning games through CyberStart America.

The program gives students free access to CyberStart Game until April 2021, through which they can progress at their own pace; solving puzzles, completing challenges, and gaining skills in cybersecurity. Students can play just for fun, to improve problem-solving and digital skills, or can use the CyberStart America program to qualify and train for the National Cyber Scholarship Competition. Teachers can leave their students to have fun learning Game independently, or can incorporate the free educational game into lesson plans, or set it as online homework.

Read about the history of CyberStart in the US

Join our community of Cyber Aware Educators!

Sign up to be the first to hear about upcoming webinars, resources, and opportunities for students at your school. No previous cybersecurity knowledge or experience is required to join - just an enthusiasm to inspire your students to up their digital skills.

Revolutionizing cybersecurity education in the United States

No prior knowledge of computer science is required to introduce your students to cybersecurity concepts through CyberStart America.

We become the teacher
Perfect for all students
Gamified teaching
Uncover talent

Example of a CyberStart challenge with a binary lock and chain

We become the teacher

Our well-structured and easy to follow platform allows for structured, independent learning without the need for you to plan lessons. No experience in cybersecurity is needed for you to use CyberStart Game.

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Perfect for all students

CyberStart Game’s focus on independent, on-demand learning makes cybersecurity accessible for students of all abilities. Students will progress and be challenged relative to their ability in this exciting topic.

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Gamified teaching

Cybersecurity is a complex and hands-on topic that can appear daunting. This is why CyberStart Game focuses on fun, high quality and gamified teaching styles that allows students to get hands-on experiences with real-world cybersecurity challenges and tasks. No text books, lectures or traditional learning, just fun and engaging problem-solving challenges that build towards highly respected academic outcomes.

A selection of badges that can be achieved with CyberStart

Uncover talent

CyberStart Game has proven to find exceptionally talented students who have pivoted to the industry without necessarily having studied or previously known they were interested in cybersecurity. CyberStart Game helps uncover, educate, and funnel students with a talent for this topic into the industry by developing desired and recognized skills by employers.

What teachers are saying

The programming challenges were amazing, and so were the command line questions. My students were very engaged, I could not get them to leave.

High school teacher, Iowa

None of my students had any experience with cybersecurity, Linux, Python, or really with anything that the challenges were based on. The final weekend of the challenge was the beginning of our school vacation week...[but] three-quarters of the girls spent most of Saturday and Sunday in my classroom with me! There aren't too many things that would get high school students to sacrifice two days of vacation to work on education!

High school teacher, Colorado

This is a great opportunity for girls to get a chance to gain skills that could get them interested in a whole new field of jobs that has a very limited number of females. Many girls don't get the chance to learn about cybersecurity and the ongoing issues within the cyber world, but after doing these challenges, people like me who had no idea what cybersecurity even was got a great understanding about this field

High school teacher, Maine

Prior to playing CyberStart, 36% [of students] had an interest in computer science or cybersecurity careers. After playing, 70% did.

U.S. Governors’ Report on the 2018 CyberStart Program

It is accessible but not trivial and the Field Manual is a great way to review and enhance skills

High school teacher, Hawaii

It is presented in a fun, interactive environment that encourages students to problem-solve, code, and learn how Computer Science works. My students loved the challenge. We heard them say, ‘I am so smart’ and ‘Let me help you’ over and over during the course of the program. It was awesome!

High school teacher, Colorado

Register for our free information session

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Educator FAQs

Got more questions?

Head on over to our knowledge base for more frequently asked questions.

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Introduce

CyberStart turns complex cybersecurity concepts into fun and accessible challenges for students of all abilities.

Develop

An all-in-one cybersecurity learning journey teaching a huge array of cybersecurity topics with challenges ranging from easy to extreme.

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Enable

High scoring students will qualify for the National Cyber Scholarship Competition and compete for life-changing opportunities.

Support

If you require any help or further information email support@cyberstartamerica.org and we'll be happy to help.

FAQs

Can't find what you are looking for? We may have the answers to some of your questions over in our knowledge base.