Horizon 2020 project „Empowering and educating young people for the internet by playing“ (RAYUELA)

The internet has become an integral part of children and young people’s lives. The increased time spent online is prompting questions about whether they are in control of their internet usage. The low level of awareness of cyber threats and their potential impact is a serious issue that translates into the proliferation of incidents due to human mistakes. 51% of EU citizens feel not at all or not well informed about cyber threats and 86% of Europeans believe that the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime is rapidly increasing. On the other hand, Law enforcement has noted that more and more teenagers and young people are increasingly committing cybercrimes.

This is an international problem which has considerable cost implications; it is estimated that crimes in cyberspace will cost the global economy $445B annually. Understanding the behavioural and developmental aspects of cyber criminality is becoming increasingly important and underlies the necessity of a shift in focus from sanctions to deterrence and prevention.

As a research project, RAYUELA aims to bring together law enforcement agencies (LEAs), sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, legal experts, computer scientists and engineers, to develop novel methodologies that allow better understanding the factors affecting online behaviour related to new ways of cyber criminality, as well as promoting the potential of these young talents for cybersecurity and technologies.

RAYUELA’s main goal is to better understand the drivers and human factors affecting certain relevant ways of cybercriminality, as well as empower and educate young people (children and teenagers primarily) in the benefits, risks and threats intrinsically linked to the use of the Internet by playing, thus preventing and mitigating cybercriminal behaviour.

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