Cyber safety for ages 16–18

The missions

1. 🪪 Guard Your Identity

   Identity theft, ID documents & your credit file

   Your name, date of birth and ID photos are enough to open accounts in your name. Share them rarely, and check your credit file.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Why young adults are targets for identity fraud, protecting ID documents, credit files and how to check them, and what to do if identity is misused.

   • Look up how to get a free credit report together, and what normal looks like.
   • Talk about who genuinely needs a copy of their passport or licence, and how to check.
   • Make sure their email has two-step verification: it’s the key to resetting everything else.

2. 💼 Too Good to Be Hired

   Fake jobs, recruiter scams & task scams

   Real employers don’t charge you to work, don’t interview only by text, and don’t pay you to like videos.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Recognising fake job offers, upfront-fee and task scams, checking employers, and when to hand over personal details.

   • Look at their real job applications together and talk about what a genuine process looks like.
   • Show them how to search a company on Companies House.
   • Agree they’ll check with you or a tutor before paying anything to anyone for a job.

3. 💳 First Money, First Scams

   Banking apps, buy now pay later & purchase scams

   Pay by card for protection, treat buy now pay later as real debt, and never move money because someone told you to.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Safe account and impersonation scams, the 159 service, card versus bank transfer protection, buy now pay later as debt, and reporting quickly.

   • Save 159 in their phone together and explain when to use it.
   • Talk about how you check unexpected calls about money.
   • If they use buy now pay later, look at the repayment dates together.

4. 🏢 Cyber Safe at Work

   Phishing at work, MFA fatigue, data & reporting

   At work you protect other people’s data too. Lock up, check requests, and report mistakes fast.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Workplace security basics for first jobs and apprenticeships: phishing aimed at new starters, MFA fatigue, phone social engineering, screen locking, data handling, AI tools and incident reporting.

   • Share a time you (or someone you know) reported something at work, and what happened.
   • Talk about what “confidential” means in their job or placement.
   • Remind them that owning up early is a strength employers value.

5. 🏠 Moving Out Safely

   Rental scams, shared houses, Wi-Fi & smart devices

   See before you pay, protect your deposit, and secure the shared Wi-Fi and gadgets in your new place.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Rental and holding-deposit scams, deposit protection, ticket resale scams, shared-house Wi-Fi and router security, and smart devices.

   • If they’re house-hunting, agree you’ll look at any listing together before money changes hands.
   • Show them how to check a deposit protection scheme.
   • Talk through how to set up a router password when they move in.

6. 💬 Meeting People Online

   Dating apps, romance scams, catfishing & image consent

   Check people are who they say they are, meet safely, never send money, and know that sharing intimate images without consent is a crime.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Written for 18-year-olds: catfishing and romance scams, reverse image search, safer first meetings, and the law on intimate image abuse, with where to get help.

   • Offer to be the “I’m safe” check-in person for a first meet, no questions asked.
   • Talk about how romance scams target people of every age, including parents and grandparents.
   • Make sure they know help is available if images are ever shared or threatened.

7. 📄 Your Digital CV

   Online reputation for applications, professional profiles & old accounts

   Universities, employers and apprenticeship schemes may look you up. Tidy what’s there, and build what you want them to find.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Online reputation management for university, apprenticeship and job applications: self-searching, closing old accounts, privacy and tagging, and building a positive presence.

   • Do a private-window search of their name together.
   • Help them list old accounts to close.
   • Talk about what they’d like to be found for, and how to show it.

8. 🤖 AI at Study and Work

   Using AI well: accuracy, honesty, data & voice clones

   AI is a powerful helper that can be confidently wrong. Check it, follow your college or employer’s rules, keep private data out, and verify voices and videos.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   Responsible AI use for study and work: hallucinations, academic integrity, data protection, voice-clone and deepfake fraud, and AI-written phishing.

   • Ask how their college or school allows AI to be used, and how it must be declared.
   • Agree a family check for unusual calls asking for money, like a code word.
   • Try asking a chatbot something you know well, and spot what it gets wrong.

9. ⚖️ Online Law at 18

   What changes legally: messages, hacking, images, contracts & consumer rights

   At 18 you’re fully responsible for what you post, send and sign. Know the main offences, and the rights that protect you too.

   What it teaches, and talking points for home

   An overview of adult legal responsibility online in the UK: threatening and false communications, harassment, the Computer Misuse Act, intimate image abuse, contracts and credit, and consumer rights. General awareness, not legal advice.

   • Talk through a phone or gym contract together before they sign one.
   • Discuss group chats: what to do if someone shares something illegal or cruel.
   • Show them where to check consumer rights, such as Citizens Advice.

10. 🖥️ Hot Desks & Shared Spaces

    Shoulder surfing, locking and signing out, browser warnings & anti-malware at work and uni

    Lock up every time you step away, sign out of shared machines, respect browser warnings, and never switch off security.

    What it teaches, and talking points for home

    Workplace and student habits: locking screens, shoulder surfing on the move and on video calls, signing out of shared computers, checking signed-in devices, certificate warnings, and keeping endpoint protection on and reporting alerts.

    • Ask what their workplace or college says about locking screens and reporting security alerts.
    • Check their own laptop has real-time protection on, automatic updates and a daily scheduled scan.
    • Make sure they know it’s always better to report a mistake quickly than to hide it.

11. 🚀 Cyber Careers

    Jobs in cyber security and how to get started

    Cyber security needs all kinds of people, from technical defenders to risk and compliance specialists. Here’s how to start.

    What it teaches, and talking points for home

    The main cyber security career paths (SOC, penetration testing, incident response, cloud security, GRC and audit), entry routes, and how to start building skills legally.

    • Look up cyber security apprenticeships near you together.
    • Suggest a beginner Capture the Flag event, and try it together.
    • Ask which kind of role appeals: hands-on technical, investigative, or risk and people-focused.

12. 🏆 Level 4 Challenge

    Putting it all together

    Real-life adult scenarios from every mission, solved with Stop, Check, Tell.

    What it teaches, and talking points for home

    Stop, Check, Tell applied to adult scenarios: safe account scams, job scams, MFA fatigue at work, rental scams and voice-clone fraud.

    • Ask which mission they think will matter most in the next year.
    • Swap “scam stories” and talk about how they were spotted.
    • Celebrate the Level 4 certificate.

Teachers: every mission has a free printable lesson sheet on the For teachers page.

▶ Start Cyber Level 4