On the issue of a pedagogical definition of cybersecurity

The subject of this research is the cybersecurity of students in a digital educational environment as a pedagogical phenomenon. The purpose of the study is to develop a pedagogically relevant definition of cybersecurity that can serve as a methodological basis for designing a model of pedagogical support for cybersecurity of students in a digital educational environment. A key feature of the study is the fact that the work carried out was primarily aimed at forming a definition of cybersecurity that would include various types of threats that a student might face in the digital educational process, would be focused directly on the resources available to the student, and at the same time remained semantically relevant to the content of cybersecurity in understanding other methodological approaches to understanding this term. The methodological framework of the study is based on approaches to defining cybersecurity and semantically related concepts presented in regulatory documents as well as in legal, technical, psychological, and pedagogical research; the research methods include theoretical analysis and synthesis. The novelty of the study lies in the conceptualization of cybersecurity as an independent pedagogical concept capable of serving as a methodological foundation for pedagogical modeling. As a result of the study, key methodological limitations of existing definitions for their use as a methodological basis in pedagogical modeling are identified, the expediency of using the term «cybersecurity» in pedagogical discourse is substantiated, and an author’s definition of cybersecurity is proposed as a characteristic of the subject (including a group) that facilitates the development of an effective culture of behavior in digital space, that is, such use of digital space technologies by the subject that ensures the strengthening of the state of protection of the user’s (users’) personality and their social resources, and also prevents and contributes to reducing the risk of destructive influence on the subject from objective and subjective risks and threats associated with the use of digital space. The research results can be used in the development of models and programs of pedagogical support, educational programs, and preventive measures aimed at increasing the level of learners’ cybersecurity. It is concluded that the proposed definition has the necessary methodological flexibility and applied significance for pedagogical design in the context of a digital educational environment.