On October 24 ‒ November 1, 2020, the Russian financial IT literacy cyber dictation was held on the RUNET-ID platform. The event was part of the Russian Financial Literacy Week. The purpose of the cyber dictation was to test users' knowledge of the safe use of financial products and services in the digital environment as well as to raise children and parents’ awareness in this area.
The event was organized by the Russian State Children’s Library, the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, the Bank of Russia and ROCIT, with support from the Russian Ministry of Culture and the network of Russian children’s libraries.
“Libraries were among the first to hold events on financial literacy for readers of all ages across Russia. At library events and through library projects, young readers and their parents can find financial literacy materials developed by the Russian Ministry of Finance as part of its strategy to improve financial literacy in Russia. Regional libraries were also largely involved in the First Interregional Cyber Literacy Dictation launched by the Russian State Children's Library, the Bank of Russia and the Coordination Center in 2019,” noted Maria Vedenyapina, director of the Russian State Children’s Library.
This year, 32,000 school students aged 12-17 and 12,500 adults from 85 Russian regions and other areas, including the city and space launch center of Baikonur, took part in the cyber dictation.
Each age group was asked to answer 15 questions related to financial and general digital literacy. Both children and adults were able to answer 12 questions out of 15 on average. Questions related to safety measures when connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as when opening archived files and using a bank card online, proved to be the most difficult for students. Every other adult has little idea of how to prevent or minimize losses in case a contactless bank card is stolen or lost.
“Phishing and other methods of social engineering as well as personal data protection online are especially important topics today. Since the pandemic, we have been monitoring coronavirus-related domain registrations in .RU and .РФ, and we can see that scammers are taking advantage of the difficult situation in the world and have put more effort into creating fraudulent websites of banks, government agencies and online shops. However, you can stay safe by following the simple rules we included in the cyber dictation. Test results show that both adults and children know quite well what to do if they encounter a cybercriminal, and how to check whether a particular website is reliable. We hope that the participants will be able to apply their knowledge in real life. In any case, with the help of the cyber dictation, we once again drew users’ attention to the most vulnerable aspects of internet security and reminded them how important it is to use caution online,” said Coordination Center Director Andrey Vorobyev.
Most participants in the cyber dictation represented the Belgorod Region (17,576), the Republic of Tatarstan (2,817), the Bryansk Region (2,157), the Krasnodar Territory (1,335), Moscow (1,085), and the Nizhny Novgorod Region (1,016). The regions with the most participants who received high scores include the Belgorod Region (1,753), the Republic of Tatarstan (330), Moscow (233), and the Bryansk (199) and Nizhny Novgorod regions (190).
“Teenagers are among the most vulnerable age groups when it comes to digital literacy and cybersecurity. The results of the annual Digital Dictation that was held in March and April 2020 show that the level of their digital literacy is 6.77 points out of 10. Detecting computer viruses is this group’s weakness. More than 50 percent do not know how to spot malware. Events like the cyber dictation, aimed specifically at schoolchildren, are very important, since they help teenagers to test their knowledge but also to learn how to use the internet and digital technologies safely, without losing their personal data and money,” said ROCIT Director Sergei Grebennikov.
Participants could prepare for the cyber dictation using materials in the Resources section. The website recently added Correct Answers with explanations for every test question.
