Co-designing cybersecurity-related stories with children: Perceptions on cybersecurity risks and parental involvement

Co-designing and co-creating technology have recently received much attention in the child-computer interaction (CCI) community. However, there has yet to be much work to explore the co-designing aspect in the field of children's cybersecurity awareness and parental involvement. With this study, we present the results of a co-design activity with ten children between 9 and 12 years to explore how children think about different cybersecurity issues and parents' roles in those cybersecurity-related situations. Our findings show that children expect various adult roles to provide support to ensure their safety online and especially expect their parents to take a supportive role in cybersecurity experiences by informing them about the risks, offering suggestions on mitigating or protective measures, and helping them take protective measures or actions against any entity posing the risks. Our study contributes to understanding children's perceptions of cybersecurity and parental involvement through storytelling.