PITTSBURGH, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- With Hollywood-style hoopla, Carnegie Mellon CyLab and the Information Networking Institute (INI) will launch a new education initiative called MySecureCyberspace, which includes a game for children and a Web-based portal for home users.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020422/CMULOGO )

Carnegie Mellon University also said it will partner with i-SAFE America, a nonprofit foundation focused on making students cybersafe to expand outreach of MySecureCyberspace into i-SAFE's nationwide SAFE Schools Education Initiative and Outreach Campaign.

Pradeep K. Khosla, CyLab co-founder and dean of Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering, said, "MySecureCyberspace will be key in reaching our goal of raising the cyberawareness -- the safe and responsible online behavior -- of 10 million citizens worldwide in the next five years starting with 20,000 households in the Pittsburgh area."

i-SAFE celebrity spokesman Robert Davi, whose feature films include "Predator II," "James Bond: Licence to Kill" and "Son of Pink Panther," will help the university launch the new high tech game designed to protect children from cyberpredators at 6 p.m. April 14 at Soldiers and Sailors Museum and Memorial in Oakland.

Davi's appearance and the launch of MySecureCyberspace are part of a symposium celebrating the Information Networking Institute's 15 years of innovation and excellence in education.

Teri Schroeder, CEO and founder of i-SAFE, said partnering the leader on online safety with one of the most technologically sophisticated campuses in the world will lead to innovations like MySecureCyberspace, a tool for the global protection of all computer users with Internet access.

With MySecureCyberspace, students are given access to an interactive game environment where cartoon figures resembling superheroes from the wacky antics of Disney Channel's Kim Possible to the staid humor of the 1950s' George Jetson space family help children learn about the dangers of Internet viruses and cybercriminals.

"Complementing the game for children, the MySecureCyberspace portal equips home users with customized information to help them secure their part of cyperspace. The portal provides users with the tactical countermeasures to stay cybersafe and to better understand the legal, ethical and privacy issues related to a variety of cybersecurity threats," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, head of the Information Networking Institute and director of education, training and outreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab.

Tsamitis said this new partnership was inspired by CyLab's mission to make a societal impact with its outreach. CyLab and the INI, together with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, will educate individuals with scant experience with online computing. The public schools' Emerging Links Digital Divide program provides families with desktop computers and broadband access to ultimately access Web-based educational programs like Carnegie Mellon's newly launched MySecureCyberspace.

Carnegie Mellon researchers say the new game Web portal will be accessible by the general public later this summer. The new Carnegie Mellon/ i-SAFE partnership also will work to develop programs that promote best practices among law enforcement officials and computer crime investigators to be more proactive and add additional security perimeter for Internet users.

"We are excited to be working with a world-class institution like Carnegie Mellon, and together we will create national standards and development training for students, teachers and law enforcement agencies that will be the standard for future generations of security specialists," Schroeder said.

About Carnegie Mellon CyLab and The Information Networking Institute:

Carnegie Mellon's CyLab is a university-wide, multidisciplinary initiative that builds on more than two decades of Carnegie Mellon's leadership in information technology and involves more than 200 faculty and staff. CyLab offers professional master's degree programs in networking and security through the Information Networking Institute, the education arm of CyLab, and a cache of executive education programs. CyLab also participates in the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Services (SFS) program for graduate information security education and offers an education and research capacity building program for faculty and members of minority-serving institutions. Carnegie Mellon has been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence by the National Security Agency.

About i-SAFE America:

Founded in 1998 and active in all 50 states, i-SAFE America Inc. is the leader in Internet safety education. i-SAFE is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to educate and empower youth to make their Internet experiences safe and responsible. The goal is to educate students on how to avoid dangerous, inappropriate or unlawful behavior. I-SAFE accomplishes this through dynamic K-12 curriculum and community outreach programs to parents, law enforcement, and community leaders. It is the only Internet safety foundation to combine these elements. http://www.isafe.org/ .

i-SAFE America Inc. is designated a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) charitable organization by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. I-SAFE America is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs and the Department of Justice.

CONTACT: Chriss Swaney of Carnegie Mellon, +1-412-268-5776, or Kevin
Storr of i-SAFE America, +1-760-603-7911 Ext. 34

Web site: http://www.cmu.edu/
http://www.isafe.org/