Ts. Dr. Muhammad Faiz Bin Mohd Zaki, Sub-Project 3 Lead, UMCYBERSAFE: Sekolah Siaga Siber.
On 6 April 2026, the UMCYBERSAFE: Sekolah Siaga Siber programme visited SMK Che Tom in Sungai Petani, Kedah — completing a two-day cybersecurity education outreach that collectively reached approximately 300 Form 1–3 students across Kedah. The session at SMK Che Tom was the second of two consecutive visits organised by the Centre of Research for Cyber Security & Network (CSNET), FSKTM, Universiti Malaya, under the UMCares Community Grant (RU2025-QE13C).
Reaching Those Who Need It Most
SMK Che Tom is a national secondary school dedicated to female students, located on the outskirts of Sungai Petani. The school serves a community where the majority of students come from lower-income families — a demographic that is statistically more exposed to online threats, not from greater digital activity, but from less access to quality guidance about safe behaviour online. For many of these students, the Sekolah Siaga Siber programme was their first structured encounter with cybersecurity education delivered by university-level researchers.
The Principal of SMK Che Tom, Puan Harisun binti Hamid, attended and officiated the opening ceremony, delivering a heartfelt expression of gratitude to the Universiti Malaya team. She highlighted the significance of the programme for students who might otherwise go without this level of educational support, and expressed hope for a lasting partnership between the school and the university.
Hands-On Learning in Three Parts
The session followed the same evidence-based structure used the previous day at SMK Ibrahim. A team of ten FSKTM lecturers guided students through a Cybersecurity Awareness Seminar covering cyberbullying, online fraud, identity theft, and responsible use of personal data — grounded in real scenarios that resonate with the daily digital experiences of Malaysian teenagers.
The afternoon session opened the Ruang Siaga Siber (Cyber Readiness Space), where students worked through live simulations of cyberattack scenarios and explored the UMCybersafe e-Modul, FSKTM's own interactive cybersecurity learning platform. Students engaged actively throughout, particularly during the simulation segments. Those who completed the e-Modul received digital certificates and badges to mark their achievement.
300 Students, Two Days, One Mission
Together with the SMK Ibrahim session on 5 April, the Sekolah Siaga Siber programme reached approximately 300 students over two days — meeting the outreach target set under the UMCares grant. The programme advances two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 4 (Quality Education), by providing inclusive, age-appropriate digital literacy education, and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), by building a school community that is more digitally resilient and cyber-aware.
For CSNET, the programme is both a community service and a demonstration of principle: that cybersecurity research achieves its fullest impact when it moves beyond academic publications and reaches the people who face digital threats in their daily lives — including a generation of teenagers still learning how the internet works.