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Cyber Collective empowers communities to stay vigilant and safe online together.
We all know what it's like to walk down the street and get a warning from a family member or a friend: "Keep your phone in your pocket," "Pay attention." “Stay alert.” “Don’t go there alone.”
I've said these phrases many times as the oldest sibling looking out for my three younger sisters.
These aren't just words of caution—they are lessons passed down through generations, instinctive wisdom about staying safe in the world. We call them “street smarts.”
But today, the landscape looks different. We stay cautious in subway stations, but we don’t apply the same caution scrolling through social media feeds, opening email links, and shopping online. Just like in the real world, there are risks.
Identity theft. Financial scams. Romance scams. We can’t trust the information we see, the messages we get, the people we connect with. On top of that, we know that the platforms operate on biased, AI-driven algorithms. Unregulated data compromises our personal information. Cyber crimes affect our mental health and our quality of life.
Cyber Collective was launched in 2019 by Tazin Khan to create spaces where people could learn about these issues within the context of their unique lived experiences.
Like many others, that's how I found Cyber Collective—I was seeking a space like that myself, to better understand these issues and support my loved ones.
Cyber Collective teaches people about the impact of technology and how to protect themselves online. At the root of this mission is solidarity, because we recognize that in our most vulnerable human moments, millions of search results won’t support you the way your family, friends, and communities do.
Today, we are proud to introduce a program, core to who we are and what we stand for: Internet Street Smarts.
Our Internet Street Smarts program represents our unique approach to awareness and education. We've built a one of a kind course. A course AND a movement. A movement to bring those same, in-person instincts to our digital lives. To create a world where we’re not just looking out for ourselves, but for each other, online.
Internet Street Smarts came together in the same spirit that communities always have—through solidarity and a shared sense of responsibility. We set out to create this course with our global community of Cyber Collective Advocates, who shared their voices and perspectives as immigrants, women, people of color—people who have seen firsthand how dangerous the internet can be. We didn’t just ask for feedback; we listened deeply and worked together to build a solution that speaks to the real experiences people face online every day.
We knew from the start that this wasn’t going to be your typical cybersecurity course. Most online safety courses throw jargon at you, expecting you to memorize terms "encryption" and figure it out.
Internet Street Smarts is different because it’s for the people, by the people.
We created simple, hands-on ways to build digital instincts—the kind of gut feeling that tells you when something just isn’t right. And we did it with one goal in mind: to keep each other safe.
Yes we touch on the everyday threats that people face, like that strange email urging you to log in or the overwhelming terms and conditions that we all find hard to read yet all deserve to understand. But we speak to these topics from a racial and social justice lens, prioritizing simple language and centering emotional and traumatic components of these topics.
When we first set out to build this program, we didn’t just want to teach information that is otherwise accessible online. We wanted to spark something bigger.
Our Internet Street Smarts course celebrates community and interconnectedness. We call ourselves a collective for a reason—we are all in relationship with one another, and our online lives are no different.
When one person learns how to spot a phishing scam, they teach their parents. When a teenager knows how to set up strong privacy settings, they share it with their friends. This is how change happens—one person, one community, one lesson at a time.
By lifting each other up, making critical information accessible by speaking to what innately connects us as human beings, we empower ourselves and our communities to navigate the digital world with confidence and safety.
Just like it took our community of Cyber Collective Advocates to build this course, it will take many people joining our movement to spread it. Think about the people in your life who might not know how to protect their personal data. Maybe it’s a friend who clicks on sketchy links without thinking twice, or an elder in your family who’s new to the digital world and might not know the risks. By sharing what you learn through Internet Street Smarts course, you become part of this movement to make the internet a safer place for everyone.
Internet Street Smarts isn’t just about personal safety—it’s about building a future where we all look out for each other. It’s about reclaiming our power in a world that often feels overwhelming and teaching those around us to do the same.
We’ve always had instincts for keeping each other safe in the real world. Now, it’s time to build those instincts online. This is your chance to be part of something bigger, to help create the kind of internet where everyone can feel secure, confident, and empowered.
When we use technology, social media, and other tools, remember, we are not doing this alone. We are navigating these changes together. We are protecting ourselves and protecting our communities, trusting our instincts, standing for better outcomes.
Here’s what you can do next:
Sign up for the course
Join the Internet Street Smarts course waitlist here.
Share the course
Share the course with your friends, families, and communities and encourage them to sign up as well.
Partner with us
We’re looking for organizations interested in bringing this content to their communities, as well as organizations to feature as resources and tools. If you are interested, please fill out our partnership form here.
Sponsor Internet Street Smarts
The more funding we have, the more we’re able to amplify this curriculum to at-risk communities. We invite sponsors and funders to accelerate this movement. To learn about our sponsorship packages, reach out to Tazin Khan , myself and our team at hello@cybercollective.org
