du Introduces Students to the Importance of Cyber Safety in the UAE

In line with its mission to create a culture that addresses cyberbullying and safe internet usage, after an initial two successful sessions, du held its third educational session on cyber safety awareness for 122 students at the GEMS Founders School in Dubai. The du Technology, Risk and Security Management Team (TSRM) spoke to school students in grade eight, showed videos and conducted engaging activities, with the aim to build children’s critical-thinking skills related to internet usage, and help them identify dangers online.

“At du, as a telecom operator, we believe that educating everyone in the UAE on the importance of cyber-safety is our responsibility. We demonstrated our commitment last year by sharing our #PostWisely campaign. As such, children need to be more aware of how to stay safe online as the internet can pose as a threat. At du, we believe children should also know that parents, teachers, and government authorities can all play a big role to ensure cyber safety, and that is why we have introduced these sessions to schools in the UAE,” said Abdulwahed Juma, Executive Vice President of Brand and Corporate Communications, du.

He added, “As a provider of internet services we are constantly working on improving cyber safety and security. Our key initiatives in this area of education include the du Cyber Security Conference and Hackathon were we discuss and introduce the threats posed by cybersecurity, and the opportunities it provides for technological development.”

During the cyber safety awareness sessions du’s Technology, Risk and Security Management Team discussed important topics to students; these included internet safety, cyberbullying, social media, the importance of reporting bad behaviour, and self-image and identity. du aims to conduct further cyber safety awareness sessions at other schools across the UAE.

As the world becomes ever more digitalized it is important for individuals to be aware of the consequences of their online actions, and how to use the internet safely. du’s cyber safety awareness sessions are designed to encourage positive online conversations, and help make people more aware of the dangers and criminal activity that can take place on the internet to exploit people’s personal information. du aims to create a rich, safe, and engaging online environment for all.

In line with du’s mission to create a culture of responsibility, the telecom successfully launched its #PostWisely campaign in November 2016. The campaign showed real-life examples and creative story-telling to shock the audience about the perils of oversharing on the internet, and how individuals can be more responsible for the information they post. The campaign videos have been viewed close to 5 million times on the du YouTube channel alone, and received numerous mentions in the media and from the general public.