New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): In a bid to bring awareness among the youth regarding the growing cyber attacks and cyberbullying, Delhi-based IT risk assessment and digital security services provider Lucideus on Monday launched a first-of-its-kind cyber security course.

Titled Cyber Whiz Kids, the course will delve into topics like basics of computers, hardware and software, basics of networking and how computers communicate with each other, smartphones, basics of programming and the security of each one of them.

Students from class 8 can enrol for the month-long course of 26 Hours (12 classes and a two-hour exam) that will teach them how to securely create and manage their email inboxes along with a dedicated module on social media security.

The course, starting from the first week of April, is priced at Rs 15,000 per student and will include lab practice, classes, certificate and an e-toolkit.

"The idea is not only to increase awareness but also show a career path to students who may want to join the information security industry in the future," Rahul Tyagi, Vice President (Training) at Lucideus, told IANS.

"The course will increase digital literacy in the country and also significantly reduce case of cyber bullying, phishing, vishing and many such frauds which happen due to lack of awareness," Tyagi added.

India unfortunately ranks highest among Asian countries in cases of cyber bullying. Over 53 per cent of the internet-using population in India fall in the age group of seven-20 and have been subjected to cyber bullying in some form or the other.

This is in contrast to a sizeable 49 per cent children who face cyber bullying in Bangladesh, 33 per cent in Thailand and 25 per cent in Malaysia, according to a recent Norton Cyber security Insights Report by Symantec.

Lucideus also plans to partner with some of the leading schools across the country to conduct smaller seminars and workshops at the school premises for a greater out reach, Tyagi said.