Don't Fall for Phishing

Hackers and cyber criminals are trying to bait you.  They want to fool you, hook you, and then reel in your private information.  This is phishing - an increasingly common attack that attempts to gain someone's private information and/or credentials through realistic, but ultimately fake, emails.

How bad is phishing?  According to a 2017 report by PhishMe, Inc, the average cost of a phishing attack on a mid-sized company is $1.6 million.  That same report also found phishing attacks had grown by 65% in a year.  The 2019 State of the Phish Report by Wombat found that 76% of businesses were the victims of phishing attacks in the previous year.  Schools are also popular targets.  Just recently, hackers stole personal information of over 500,000 staff and students in a San Diego school district through a phishing attack.  The first line of defense to prevent these attacks is the user.

People must have training to identify phishing attempts and disregard them.  Jigsaw, a special part of Google that researches and develops solutions to technology issues, released a quiz on phishing to help people spot these potential attacks.  I got seven out of the eight scenarios correct.  I'm still kicking myself about the one I missed, which I thought was a phishing attempt, but it turned out to be safe.  Take the quiz here and see how many of the phishing attempts you can identify.

One final resource that can help both teachers and students become safer and more savvy online is Google's Digital Citizenship and Safety course.  This self-paced, online course trains teachers on incorporating digital citizenship and safety lessons in their classrooms, but it also provides many helpful tips on digital security that are relevant outside of the classroom.

Hopefully, these resources can help you to not take the bait.

   

Teaching Digital Citizenship and Safety

In honor of it being National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I thought it would be apropos to share a somewhat-related story of how my school is teaching digital citizenship and safety in hopes that it may help other schools and teachers do the same.  I have a link to our program at the end of this post.  You can also read my previous writings on digital citizenship here.  Digital citizenship and Internet safety are critical concepts that students must understand and apply in their own lives as their access to web-connected devices and services begin earlier and earlier.  After all, these devices and online services are tools, and, as with any tool, we must teach the uninitiated how to use them responsibly, safely, and intelligently lest they get themselves in trouble via misuse.

Not long after I started working at my school, I recognized the need to gather feedback, insights, and questions from the staff about the technology used throughout the school.  The effective exploration and integration of technology (or any other thing) are predicated on open collaboration, detailed planning, careful execution, and thoughtful reflection.  To this end, I formed and headed up the Technology Committee.

Last year, our main goal was to develop a unified series of lessons in Grades 3-5 to teach digital citizenship and safety.  Some teachers were already teaching various aspects of this, but there wasn’t a common curriculum.  We, the Technology Committee, sought to remedy this by creating a consistent and scaffolded program of lessons, so there were no overlaps or gaps in teaching these integral skills and the lessons would build on each other throughout the grades.  We also wanted to schedule these lessons at the beginning of the school year to lay a solid foundation on which to build later and head off any student misuse of technology.  Finally, we understood teachers have much to teach already, so we focused on core lessons and divided the teaching of those lessons between the classroom teacher, the Library/Media teacher, and the Makerspace teacher.  I went into the classrooms to teach some lessons as well, which was very fun.  We thought it would be beneficial for the students to learn about digital citizenship and safety from different people, who could offer unique perspectives on the subject.

Like any good creator (or artist), we took bits and pieces from existing lessons and resources, modified them to meet our vision, and quilted them together in a final product.  We didn’t want to rely all on one source for these lessons.  To promote unification and scaffolding, we borrowed an idea from Google’s Be Internet Awesome program and put our lessons into four pillars or units that would cross all three grades:  Be Digitally Kind (Unit 1), Be Digitally Safe (Unit 2), Be Digitally Responsible (Unit 3), and Be Digitally Savvy (Unit 4).  Each grade would be learning lessons in the same pillar at the same time to bring a cohesiveness to the program.  We put three lessons in each of those units:  one for the classroom, one for Library/Media, and one for Makerspace.  We chose lessons that would complement the theme of those units, put them in an order that would build on each other, and ended each grade with a lesson that we felt synthesized all the units.  In total, we had twelve lessons for each grade.  Our goal was to complete one unit each month:  Unit 1 in September, Unit 2 in October, Unit 3 in November, and Unit 4 in December.

Thus far, our program has been going very well.  Of course, this is our first year implementing it, so we are actively reflecting on it and looking for ways to improve it.  Also, we will brainstorm ways to build on these lessons later in the year to reinforce the learning.  We are thinking of having each grade do some kind of project-based/real-world assignment that can authentically make use of what they have learned.

I wanted to share the program we developed with all of you in hopes that it may be of some help teaching these valuable and essential skills.  Click here to view it.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me via Twitter.  My handle is @BurchTech.

Developing Digital Citizens

Although the Internet as we know it has been around for over 25 years, it will always be a brave, new world to the latest generation of children.  The younger generations are labeled as “digital natives”, having grown up with computers and the World Wide Web at their fingertips.  Yet, we must not assume they are native digital citizens.  The digital world has its own rules, expectations, and customs that can only be acquired and mastered through the guidance of those who know how the digital world works.  That’s us – teachers, guidance counselors, parents.  We must welcome these new, young citizens to our digital land, and help them to safely and successfully navigate its strange terrain.

Since this week is Digital Citizenship Week (October 16-20), it is the perfect time to begin the journey to help students become respectful and responsible digital citizens.  We do not have to go this journey alone as there are excellent resources to help us teach digital citizenship.  Since many K-12 schools already use G Suite for Education, I will focus on Google’s Digital Citizenship resources since they are easy to use and integrate.

Google wants students to Be Internet Awesome.

The core principles that shape the lessons and activities of the Be Internet Awesome program are:

Be Internet Smart – Share with Care

Good (and bad) news travels fast online, and without some forethought, kids can find themselves in tricky situations that have lasting consequences. The solve? Learning how to share with those they know and those they don’t.

Be Internet Alert – Don’t Fall for Fake

It’s important to help kids become aware that people and situations online aren’t always as they seem. Discerning between what’s real and what’s fake is a very real lesson in online safety.

Be Internet Strong – Secure Your Secrets

Personal privacy and security are just as important online as they are offline. Safeguarding valuable information helps kids avoid damaging their devices, reputations, and relationships.

Be Internet Kind – It’s Cool to be Kind

The Internet is a powerful amplifier that can be used to spread positivity or negativity. Kids can take the high road by applying the concept of “treat others as you would like to be treated” to their actions online, creating positive impact for others and disempowering bullying behavior.

Be Internet Brave – When in Doubt, Talk It Out

One lesson that applies to any and all encounters of the digital kind: When kids come across something questionable, they should feel comfortable talking to a trusted adult. Adults can support this behavior by fostering open communication at home and in the classroom.

The Be Internet Awesome program offers a free, ISTE-aligned curriculum with well-designed and detailed lessons and activities.  There is also a very fun and engaging game that reinforces the lessons.

Here are some other great resources for Be Internet Awesome:

Classroom Poster

Student Pledge

Paper Cut, Fold, and Glue Activity

Finally, Google offers a free Digital Citizenship and Safety Course for teachers to help them better educate their students on staying safe and secure online.  This course takes approximately 75 minutes to complete.

The Internet is a brave, new world for our children.  It is paramount that we take the time to teach them how to respectfully, responsibly, and safely explore this world that is becoming a bigger part of our lives each day.  The Internet is a community like any other, and the better citizens we can be in our community the better we all will be for it.

Protecting Student Privacy

In the past, I have written about measures people and students can take to stay safe online with increased Internet security and safe search engines.  Online privacy is a growing concern not only in our own lives, but also in our schools.  In 2016, the TRUSTe/National Cyber Security Alliance released staggering statistics about online privacy in the United States.  From 2015 to 2016, the number of people concerned about their online privacy increased by 45%.  Before I explain the tool schools can use to help protect student privacy and data, consider these five facts from the TRUSTe/NCSA study:

1. 92% of U.S. Internet users worry about their privacy online.
2. People are more concerned about losing their online privacy (68%) than losing their income (57%).
3. People's top concern about online privacy is companies collecting and sharing personal information.
4. 89% of people say they avoid companies that do not protect their privacy.
5. 36% of people have stopped using a website due to privacy concerns.

You can learn more about the TRUSTe/National Cyber Security Alliance U.S. Consumer Privacy Index by clicking here and here.

In light of these dramatic figures and the rising risk of using online services, how do we ensure students' information is private and secure?  How do we verify the vendors of software and other online services are protecting our students' data and privacy?  We can use a tool known as the Student Privacy Pledge.

The Student Privacy Pledge was developed by The Future of Privacy Forum and The Software & Information Industry Association to "safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information."  The two organizations go on to explain that the Student Privacy Pledge is "intended to concisely detail existing federal law and regulatory guidance regarding the collection and handling of student data, and to encourage service providers to more clearly articulate these practices."

Click here to read the pledge over 345 companies, vendors, and service providers have taken.

Click here to view a list of those that have taken the pledge.

As the Technology Coordinator for my school, I vet each and every vendor of digital or electronic services to ensure they meet our high educational standards.  The Student Privacy Pledge provides me with an excellent way to verify these vendors are also protecting the personal information and privacy of our students.  According to the TRUSTe/NCSA study, only 31% of people understand how companies share their personal information.  The Student Privacy Pledge gives us much needed transparency to help make the best decisions for our schools and students.  In the 21st century, creating a safe learning environment is not only about physical security, but also digital security.