Cyber For All aims to provide some stability to a generation that hasn’t had any

More than a year into the devastating Iron Swords war in Israel, there are still tens of thousands of displaced people. Many of them are whole families including children and teenagers crammed into hotel rooms far away from home. With little certainty about when they can go home, many have already spent a year without school, without seeing their friends, and without the enrichment activities that provide them mental support and challenges.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the Iron Swords war, Israeli teens have missed out on a significant portion of their education and social lives. “We’d love to help these students create new skills that will help them have a better future,” says Ronit Hasin Hochman, co-founder of Cyber For All.

This displacement comes just four years after the COVID-19 pandemic that previously affected this generation’s education and social upbringing. With years of instability during this sensitive developmental period, this generation faces serious risks.

“The poor children have been away from home for so long and need something useful to do with their time,” says Ronit Hasin Hochman, who, along with Irina Nevzlin, co-founded Cyber For All, a non-profit organization created to provide cyber & technological education and training for youth and adults from underserved populations. “We’d love to help these students create new skills that will help them have a better future.”

Cyber For All was created in November 2023 and it provides scholarships for displaced youth to attend online courses hosted by the Israel Cyber Campus. The campus prepares students for careers in cyber. Students get hands-on experience and learn from Israel’s top cyber experts from the Israeli Defense Forces’ most elite cyber unit, 8200. Its intensive online courses for high school students include an AI simulator that was originally designed for training IDF intelligence units.

Students who complete the course receive a certificate of completion signed by Yigal Unna, the former Director General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) and current president of the Israel Cyber Campus. Unna, a veteran of the IDF’s 8200 unit and former head of the Shabak’s cyber division, developed the course along with experts from the IDF, academia, and the professional world.

“These poor students, they are looking for routine,” says Irina Nevzlin, the co-founder of Cyber For All. “I see their motivation; they are so strong and they have been through so much already. We need to support them.”

Cyber For All aims to provide a life-changing experience for displaced youth ages 14-17. Participants gain knowledge and tools to identify and deal with online risks and threats and develop skills that will help them in their future military service and careers. Furthermore, the course helps ease the emotional stress caused by the war by giving students a sense of community and belonging and a safe environment for them to focus on something productive. The course includes 25 sessions totaling 75 academic hours covering topics such as internet safety, data privacy, coding, and digital literacy.

“In these challenging times, it is essential that we prioritize the well-being of our displaced youth,” said the mayor of Kiryat Shemona, Avichai Stern. “The Cyber ​​Program is more than a digital initiative; it is a vital lifeline that offers them educational support, emotional resilience, and a safe space to connect with their peers. By equipping our youth with cyber skills, We not only empower them to continue their education, but also help restore a sense of normalcy that is so lacking in their lives now.”

Many displaced youths started cyber courses this September when it became clear they would not be returning to their homes for the beginning of the school year. The cyber courses are all online and in the afternoon hours, meaning that students will be able to continue their courses even after they are able to return home to their schools and routines, whenever that will be.

“This opportunity is very significant for me, especially during these challenging times when I’m evacuated from my home,” said Dana, age 15.5, who has been evacuated from Kiryat Shmona. “The scholarship will allow me to acquire knowledge and skills in the field of cyber and technology and help me build a better future. It gives me strength and faith in my path.”

Cyber For All’s mission is to provide professional cyber training courses to underprivileged people. The organization has also been funding courses for immigrants arriving from Russia and the Ukraine due to their war. Olim who have finished these courses have also received guidance with their job searches because finding a job in a new country is a significant challenge.

Cyber For All’s founder Hochman says her goal would be to give free courses to every displaced person who is motivated to learn.

“There are a lot of people with the skills to learn cyber, but they may not have the money to pay for training,” she says. Hochman is the CEO and Founder of Improvate, a company dedicated to bringing Israeli innovation to international markets. She founded the Israel Cyber Campus and Cyber For All to address a worldwide gap of 3.4 million skilled cybersecurity workers.

Scholarships provide opportunities to underprivileged and displaced children and help them develop skills and abilities that will provide them with upward mobility and improve their quality of life. Specifically for displaced youth, these scholarships also address social isolation and anxiety about their futures.

“I will use the scholarship to expand my knowledge in the field of computers and cyber in general, and also to have something to learn and do actively,” said Ben, age 15, who was evacuated from Nahariya. “I see myself advancing and developing in the field of cyber and hope to join the army in a position in the field or in a good future job. The scholarship helps me by allowing me to realize this possibility now (something I’ve wanted to do for a long time) but due to the war, priorities have changed and now it’s off the table – so the scholarship is a big gift for me.”

Cyber For All is accepting donations to fund participation in the courses. Each youth requires $1,450 (5,300 shekels) to complete the course. This price is subsidized by the Israel Cyber Campus. All donations go directly to supporting displaced youth and training them to be Israel’s next generation of cyber warriors.

The Bianco Foundation for Jewish Causes has been a generous donor to Cyber For All along with several other donors who wish to remain anonymous.

“I would really like to join the course because the field of computers has always interested and intrigued me very much and I want to invest, learn, and explore it in depth” said Rachel, age 14, who was evacuated from Kiryat Shmona. “In addition, I think that learning and perseverance in the course will distract me from the entire past year and give me something else to focus on and invest in.”

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