Internet day marked in Oman to save children from cyber threats

Muscat: The 2019 Safer Internet Day was organised on February 5 under the slogan, “Together for a better Internet”.
The Sultanate celebrated the importance of this day with the rest of the world. It is celebrated on the first Tuesday of February each year. The ITA, represented by the Oman CERT, is organising the “Challenge” competition as part of a child online protection programme, targeting children aged 12 to 18 years.
It is based on solving a series of puzzles in the field of information security with the participation of 10 teams from schools in the Governorate of Muscat.
A number of lectures and awareness workshops will also be organised in some private schools, in which children will be targeted, to raise their awareness over some aspects of the positive uses of the Internet and the best ways to deal with some IT crimes, such as bullying and extortion.
The celebration of Safer Internet Day came as an initiative from the European Union and the European Organisation for Internet Awareness (ISEF) in 2004 to promote joint action among the countries of the world to raise awareness about the risks of the Internet, and warn them against bad usage and its legal consequences, ethical and behavioural standards and regulations when using the Internet.
Oman represented by the ITA, has been participating in the celebration of this day since 2014 through a number of awareness activities and educational sessions targeting parents, teachers and children, in cooperation with government entities.