"<< Background >>Covid-19 Pandemic gave a push in digitalisation: Processes have been shifted into the virtual space, work was organized remotely, new business models have been created. Increasing interconnectivity generates interdependencies, and vulnerabilities to possible threats. It must be stated, that digital transformation will not success, if the most valuable resources – data, information, and know-how – are not well protected. Information security and digitalisation are inseparable. ""In a world that has become hyper-connected, cybercriminals pose a significant threat to the internal security of the European Union and security of its citizens online. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for more security in the digital world. People have increased their presence online to maintain personal and professional relations, while cybercriminals have taken advantage of this situation... The frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks is rising speedily, while at the same time the use of ICT infrastructures and technologies by individuals, organisations, and industries is increasing rapidly. The needs for cybersecurity knowledge and competences exceeds the supply. European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) underlined the urgency to invest in building competences and talents in cybersecurity at all levels, from the non-expert to the highly skilled professional.""Recent survey, conducted during Corona crisis state that cyber-attacks have grown during the pandemic and are becoming increasingly prevalent. Symantec cybercrime report reveals that data breaches cost US$114 billion annually. Current study “The indelible impact of COVID-19 on Cyber Security”, conducted by Bitdefender (05/2020) in times of Corona Pandemic confirms, that cyberattacks were on the rise during this period (85% of respondents). The Office for Information Security in Germany (BSI), through its recent ""IT Security in the Home Office"" survey of 2020, found that 8% of the 1000 SMEs surveyed were affected by cyber-attacks. PT and IT are facing the same situation. Home working/remote learning and communicating caused specific risks, which were not perceived relevant prior to COVID-19 crises. It is highlighted, that one of the biggest vulnerabilities for cyber threat are staff members, being not aware of CS threats and consequences and not well-equipped with knowledge, skills in this field. Protection cannot only take place on the IT-level but must be incorporated and practiced by all employees /staff members to ensure an a safe and secure navigation in digital space in both areas - living and working.In the regard the topic of cyber security became much more urgent and fundamental changes and adaptions are necessary not only on the organisational level, but also on the educational. Especially VET institutions can contribute to the facilitation of skills and competence highly needs on the labour market. CS go beyond the digital skills are become at least equality important to act and interact in the digitalized global world. VET organisations should provide training contents, tools, and solution, helping to cope with the challenges companies are confronted with. Euipped with appropriate Cyber Security skills. The Pandemic situation has brought an immense change into working life so deficits, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, became more obvious.<< Objectives >>""The Covid 19 pandemic alone required more digital skills than ever before. 90% of all jobs will encounter the digital world soon. So far, around 35% of European workers still lack the digital skills needed to gain a solid ground in the digital world. The European Commission’s Digital Education Plan aims to support the objective of the Skills Agenda of ensuring that 70% of 16 to 74 year olds should have at least basic digital skills by 2025.” (Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027) . Working in a digital world implies further skills to make the navigation safe and secure and to ensure data and information protection. digital transition can only succeed, if information is protected. Current study “The indelible impact of COVID-19 on Cyber Security”, conducted by Bitdefender in May 2020 in times of Pandemic confirms, that cyberattacks were on the rise during this period (85% of respondents). Home working/remote learning and communicating caused specific risks, which were not perceived relevant prior Covid-19 crises. The Office for Information Security (BSI), through its recent ""IT Security in the Home Office"" survey of 2020, found that 8% of the 1000 SMEs surveyed were affected by cyber-attacks. In regard the topic of Cyber Security became much more urgent and essential – for both employers and employees. In all participating countries common problems and needs have been identified, building the base for this project:•Main emphasis was mainly put to close the existing gap of Cyber Security (CS) specialists by offering study programs and further trainings, much less attention was paid to trainings for non-technical/non-IT staff or VET learners •VET teachers and trainers are not well equipped with knowledge and especially instruments and tools relevant to hold CS trainings for non-technical staff/VET learners in an appropriate and appealing way, also fostering the knowledge retention•Online training programs aiming to raise awareness and train CS subjects mimicking real-life and real-work environments in an engaging way, are still lacking •Especially SMEs don´t recognize the relevance of informing, sensitizing, and training non-technical staff for CS matters. Cyber literacy and generally the awareness is still not on the agenda of many SMEs Europe wide. Status quo is calling for additional actions and measure. Against this background the project idea aims * to improve CS skills among non-technical staff/VET learners by developing an innovative online training by using the “Escape Rooms” approach* to provide the VET trainers/institutions with an approved and evaluated online training as well as learning and teaching tools in the field of Cyber Security* to raise awareness among the SMEs and VET institutions for the importance of CS subject* to contribute to the establishment of a Cyber Security Culture in SMEs and also the VET sector Partners intend to design and incorporate at least six scenarios mirroring real working situations and allowing the learner to gain experiences, knowledge, and skills by making choices, observing consequences, and obtaining relevant immediate input to retain knowledge. Experimental learning is hereby in the focus: through the direct engagement in a real-life, authentic situation replicating a working environment, experiences can be collected. The immediate observation the consequences, own choices and actions lead to makes the reflection and a better understanding possible. Making conclusion and learning experiences will lead to a higher knowledge retention and the transfer of what was learned into the working life. Project partner decided to test CS training by using the Escape Room approach, intending to •Give a better understanding of CS •Increase the engagement and learning experiences though the interactive and emotional learning•Explore of “Escape Rooms” approach for educational purposes•Measure the effectiveness of the online training using the “Escape Room” Mode<< Implementation >>O1 - Activities: 1.A1: Definition of the quality criteria Development of selection criteria necessary to identify and present Cyber Security Cases, and to make them comparable, diverse, applicable and transferrable into the (VET) educational /learning environment.1.A2: Definition of the structure of the compendiumTo make the cases comparable and applicable for educational purposes common structure as well as the methodology to collect data and information will be specified and commonly approved. 1.A3: Selection of Case StudiesAll partners have a strong local and national network, which will be activated in this project phase. All partners will identify companies and organisations, preferably SME, and get in touch with them to gain relevant information and data. Methodology encompasses secondary and primary data collection.1.A4: Elaboration of the CompendiumHaving collected and filtered data from both steps, partners will prepare the compendium. Every partner will illustrate their cases according to the predefined structure, as well as describe the national strategies and situation regarding CS.O2 - Activities:2.A1. Specification of the topics for at least 6 different set of situations. Definition of most relevant topics. Scenario topic should cover preferably different field and areas of Cyber Security integrating more strongly the security issues of remote working models like Home Office.2.A2. Definitions of learning objectives Having determined the topic and areas for the scenarios the learning objectives will be identified. Partners will figure out, what kind of knowledge and experiences learners will have to acquire, gain and possess after the completion of the “learning process”. 2.A3 Definition of appropriate situation for a scenario The prioritization of the situation follows. The principals here are the importance of the situation for the real life and the likelihood they can appear in practice/work environment. 2.A4. Scenario frameAs an innovative type for raising awareness for Cyber Security and training the application and adherence to relevant rules and principles of working and living in a safe virtual environment, the Escape Room Model was chosen.2.A5 Design of the scenariosAt least 6 selected scenarios will be composed. Scenarios have to be engaging and also educationally effective and mimic the working reality. O3 - Activities.3.A1 Specification and design of the virtual escape room platform The requirements for the scenarios in O2 will be used to guide this activity. The characteristics of the platform and its core functionality will include elements of communication (text and video, synchronous and asynchronous) and interaction with the with the scenario for the players to get the clues and submit the solutions.3.A2 Technical / software implementation of the virtual escape room platformThe technical implementation will translate the game mechanics (game rules) into data and algorithms that supports the desired user experience but will also allow to instantiate programmatically the scenarios produced in the previous result into the platform. This will be done in a modular way so that new scenarios could be created and integrated at any moment with minimum effort.3.A3 Alpha and beta testingAlpha test will involve partner s to conduct usability and game experience assessment. Beta Testing will already implicate the participation of end users to test the virtual escape room setup.3.A4 Improvements to the platform and scenariosThe resulting feedback will be analysed and a list of requirements for improvements will be produced to guide further development of the platform and tested scenarios.3.A5 Pilot testingA larger-scale testing will take place 3.A6 Improvements to the platform and scenariosFollowing the evaluation of the pilots, improvements to the contents and methodology. optimization of the output<< Results >>OO1: Compendium of Cyber Security CasesThis output aims at putting together and disseminating Cybersecurity Cases which de facto took place in partner countries, especially SMEs. These Cases bundled in the compendium provide the variety of different situations, describing cyberattacks, frauds, social engineering occurred in companies. The illustration of problems, its origin and possible reasons will be extended by solutions and actions, companies introduced and realized to rectify the security leak. These Cases should serve for educational purposes and deliver content, input, based on real-life examples to VET trainers on the one hand and lay the foundation for the creation of the Output 2 “Scenario Cyber Alertness” on the other.O2 – Scenarios “Cyber Alertness”Inspired by the examples and cases from Output 1 partners will design various set of situations for facilitating knowledge and competences in the field of CS. To make the virtual training more engaging a scenario-based approach was chosen. Since the topic of Cyber Security is perceived as highly complex the aim is to create a well thought out, interactive and appealing scenario -based training strategy, supporting the information reception, knowledge application and retention. Scenarios are effective for learning since they provide realistic context and emotional engagement and can increase motivation and accelerate expertise. Especially, in field of Cyber Security the reference to realistic situation might have a very positive effect and additional value since learners can better comprehend the situation, observe the consequences, reflect and transfer it into working environment. Having made these experiences, it can foster and accelerate the learning process, enhance the skills and knowledge and lead to a better performance in the job. The target groups the scenarios are suited for are persons from different professions with non-technical/non-IT background in the continuing VET sector. The Scenarions contain set of situations, relevant for the improvement of the CS awareness and skills, enabling VET learners to act and react in the digital working and living environments.O2-1 Apart from the scenarios partner will work out a methodological guide for the conceptualization and the implementation of Escape rooms as didactic tool in the context of CS. Incorporated will be also the experiences of the participating trainers and learners. O3 – Virtual Training Escape RoomDeveloped scenarios (O2) are the base for the development of the virtual platform and training. The characteristics of the platform and its core functionality include elements of communication (text and video, synchronous and asynchronous) and interaction with the scenario for the learner to get the clues and submit the solutions. Therefore, design includes the core mechanisms that create experiences and build the expected knowledge that is transferable to the real world through active learning practices that simulate problem solving in the real world. The virtual platform incorporates tested scenarios for CS and will be made openly available to the target group and all potential stakeholders.O3-1 A user guide will be a part of the project to inform them about the concept of the training, and the handling.Further results1) Project Webpage2) 4 Multiplier Events3) Dissemination strategy: dissemination of project results for their sustainable use also beyond the partnership is a core task of the project. A comprehensive dissemination staregy will therefore be established for all partner organisations4) Quality plan and reports: the assurance of a high product and process quality is an important factor for the success of the project. Therefore Effebit (P4) will be especially responsible for the quality management in the project."