Capstone Project Highlight Series: Lauren Kam ’21
Each year, a number of junior and senior class members choose to participate in the MFS Capstone Program. Designed to challenge students who wish to pursue advanced study in a particular field, the program asks participants to produce scholarly work by engaging in independent research and/or creative development under the guidance of an MFS faculty member. This series highlights recently completed projects of the 18 senior students in the program.
A member of the MFS Cybersecurity Club and previous intern on Lockheed Martin’s Cyber Innovations team, Lauren Kam ’21 is well versed in cybersecurity and the protocols that should be followed to remain safe while online. However, she was curious if her MFS peers are as cyber-aware as they need to be and if there are changes in the technology curriculum that could help to better inform them.
Lauren conducted surveys of MFS Middle and Upper School students. Her goal was to determine each groups’ knowledge of cybersecurity, phishing, protective security measures, and what exposes an individual to attacks. While these students have grown up surrounded by technology, Lauren was surprised to find that Upper School students seemed to be less informed than those in the Middle School. She also noticed that, when asked about multi-factor authentication, Upper School students preferred moving through pages efficiently over taking time to protect themselves. As a result of the responses, she constructed a list of possible implementations to strengthen students’ cyber-awareness and keep the MFS community safe. Her list included: introducing social engineering into the technology curriculum; emphasizing phishing and its dangers; inviting outside speakers to present different perspectives on cybersecurity, and hosting a “Cybersecurity Education Week” to help refresh students as they age out of required technology courses.
Moving forward, Lauren hopes to help carry out her ideas and wants to continue surveying the community for ongoing cyber-awareness. Her long-term goal is to “create a higher baseline of cybersecurity knowledge in society.” Learn more about her project on her capstone site.