Abstract—Despite the fact that the Internet has positively impacted people’s lives, there are negative issues emerged related to the use of Internet. Cases like cyber-bully, online fraud, racial abuse, pornography and gambling had increased tremendously due to the lack of awareness and self-mechanism among Internet users to protect themselves from being victims to these acts. However, past research revealed that the level of awareness among Internet users is still low or moderate. One of the vital measures to be taken is to cultivate knowledge and awareness among Internet users from their early age, i.e., young children. Young children specifically, need to be educated to operate in a safe manner in cyberspace and to protect themselves in the process. The objective of this systematic review paper is to explore why it is so critical that modern learners are educated about the risks associated with being active in cyberspace and the strategies that stakeholders can use to promote cyber security education in schools. In this paper, few strategies are discussed as how cyber security education can be implemented in schools. Index Terms—Cybersecurity, cyber safety, cyber education, cyber awareness. I. INTRODUCTION Many of us use social media as a platform to express our feelings, to provoke discussions, or to become known. As many people want to be the first to share an issue, sometimes they ignore whether the information presented is authentic or otherwise [1]. Use of the internet is not limited to adults, but in this era of technology and multimedia, knowledge of cybersecurity is also important for children. Although Internet has vast potential and benefits for everybody, the exessive use of the Internet maybe harmful as it may lead to cyber risks for example cyber addiction [2], gaming and gambling addiction [3], cybersex [4], pornography [5], and personal information exposure [4], [6], [7]. Cybercrime against children and adolescents is certainly a concern for parents, as they sometimes do not realise their child is a victim of cybercrime. Many parents are unaware of the activities their children perform in cyberspace [8]. Some children are bullied through comments and insults; they may also be intimidated, harassed, abused or sexually exploited. According to statistics from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), nearly 80% of rape cases reported in the country over the past two years involve friendships in the virtual world, and most of the victims are under the age of 18 [9]. Grooming children and adolescents to become victims of sexual abuse is worsening, as more and more of these sexual Manuscript received December 30, 2019; revised March 23, 2020. This work was conducted under FRGS/1/2017/SSI09/UKM/02/3 grant. The authors are with the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia (e-mail: nurulamirah.abdrahman@gmail.com, ihanis25@gmail.com, nurulakma.mzizi@gmail.com, fariza.khalid@ukm.edu.my). predators are using fake identities on the internet when seeking victims. With regard to parents’ efforts to protect their children from cyber threats, there is no doubt that children, despite their young age, are efficient and skilled in using their own or their parents’ smartphones. Children are not only tech savvy, but proficient in using technology. In fact, there are also parents who give gadgets to their children as rewards for excellence in exams, birthday presents, and so on. This makes young children vulnerable to abuse through technology, while they are independently exploring the internet without boundaries or monitoring. When enjoying the benefits of the internet, it is important for everyone, whether parents or children, to be aware of potential risks such as cyberbullying, as well as to take safety precautions, as children now have internet access at an earlier age [10]. Educators need to disseminate cybersecurity messages in order to promote responsible online behaviour [11]. Children’s use of the internet is changing fast, in response to considerable societal, market and technological innovation. As children’s frequent engagement with online videos, music, gaming, messaging and searching implies, their internet use is broadly positive. Parents of three- to four-year-olds report that their child is likely to watch cartoons, mini-movies, animations or songs on YouTube. The content children watch as they grow older differs, as older children watch more music videos, vloggers, YouTube personalities, and funny videos [12]. The role of schools is important in teaching critical digital literacy to students, as well as in guiding and informing parents regarding children’s internet use at home. The objective of cybersecurity education is to educate the users of technology on the potential risks they face when using internet communication tools, such as social media, chat, online gaming, email and instant messaging. Although there are many past research has been conducted on cyber security, in different areas, for example [13]–[19], less articles focused on the steps that need to be done particularly by schools in order to help cultivate cyber security awareness in detail. The objective of this paper is to discuss why it is so critical that modern learners are educated about the risks associated with being active in cyberspace, what factors hamper this education, and the importance of a cybersecurity curriculum that can be used by teachers in junior or primary schools, in the specific context of the Malaysian education system. II. CYBERSECURITY The emergence of the internet allows humans to enjoy two realms: their real life, and the virtual world [20]. With search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and video sharing sites such as YouTube, all information is now available at people’s The Importance of Cybersecurity Education in School Rahman N. A. A, Sairi I. H., Zizi N. A. M., and Khalid F. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 10, No. 5, May 2020 378 doi: 10.18178/ijiet.2020.10.5.1393