Students are being asked to think like a hacker in a new online programme called Cyber Skills Aotearoa.
Naenae College in Lower Hutt was the first school to try out the initiative created by Australia-based Grok Academy, with the first 45-minute online challenge running until November 11.
"These things haven't been taught before and a lot of our parents don't actually know a lot of stuff so I think this is a really good step in the right direction," Naenae College student Arie Joe told 1News.
Learning resources such as flashcards which ask students to choose what content is appropriate to post on social media are also provided.
The focus is teaching students how to protect their privacy and identify scams and hackers on the internet.
"Definitely taught you how easy it is for scammers to get into your accounts," fellow student Blessing Tafili said.
The programme is bilingual, with English and te reo Māori on offer.
Next year, several more challenges will be held for schools that sign up.
Netsafe data shows in the past year to June, 17% of reports of online harm have come from people aged under 21.
The Government, ASB, BNZ and Amazon Web Services are funding the programme.
"It's really important that our students have these skills from an early age, they spend a lot of time online and I guess as a secondary benefit we're wanting them to think about careers in the area of cyber security," Digital Economy Minister David Clark said.
The programme's creator James Curran hopes the guidance will be brought home by students to help educate their whānau, who he said worry a lot about their child's online presence but are often at fault.
"Doing things like sharing a photo of an 18th birthday or a photo outside of a school, you're actually giving away information to your social network and if you set your privacy settings to public then essentially you've just broadcast your child's date of birth," Curran said.
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