Teaching Internet Security, Safety in Our Classrooms Feature

By Joanna F. DeFranco

“hERE IS ThE WAKEUP HERE IS A MISCONCEp- The problem is best described with tION: “kIDS kNOW MORE terms coined by Marc Prensky (2001). He CALL: tHE FBI HAS t than We Do About the Internet.” referred to people who did not grow up MADE CYBERCRIME Do teens know more than their parents with the Internet as the Internet Immigrants and teachers about how to use the Inter- (over 30 years of age), and the Internet ItS NUMBER tHREE net? Teens may be more familiar with Natives are those who grew up with the the latest blog or social networking site; Internet (under 30 years of age). The pRIORItY, FOLLOWING however, with 56 percent of teens posting problem is that the immigrants are raising tERRORISM personal information (McAfee, 2010) the natives and assume the natives know on the Internet and child predators and what they are doing because they have AND COUNtER- criminals looking for this information— so much interest in the latest technology. INtELLIGENCE.” I think not. Unfortunately, the focus is on obtaining Here is the wakeup call: The FBI and using the bells and whistles of the has made cybercrime its number three new technology, rather than the dangers priority (fbi.gov, 2010), following terror- that come along with it. ism and counterintelligence. In addition, Immigrants raising natives is not a new cyber criminals are scraping the social situation. For example, in the early 1900s networking sites, using the automated free when immigrants arrived from other tools available on the Internet, to collect parts of the world, they needed to focus the personal information posted by social more on feeding their families than edu- network users so they can more easily cating their children. They accomplished commit crimes. On the bright side, many this by sending young children to work of the issues can be mitigated with a few instead of school—obviously dangerous, simple steps to increase the difficulty of but probably necessary. Laws were then criminals gaining access to our personal created to make sure all children attended information, and potentially us. school. Our society cannot wait for Internet safety to be a required part of the Educators Need to Take the Lead curriculum or depend solely on parents Internet security is an important topic who may not have the knowledge to teach for educators due to curriculums now Internet safety. incorporating tools such as the Internet, Google docs, e-portfolios and course Why is it Suddenly OK management systems. Those tools require to Talk to Strangers? students to spend more time online, where Technology has allowed us to obtain they are susceptible to manipulation or knowledge in a most efficient way. intimidation if they do not stay on task. However, utilizing that technology is also Ph

OTO Kids of all ages lack emotional maturity. leaving us vulnerable to exploitation. We BY

STOCK They also need attention and validation; tell our children not to talk to strangers, combine that with their extreme lack of yet that is exactly what they are doing on .x C h NG caution, and a broadband connection, the Internet. As mentioned earlier, more . COM and we now have a big problem. than half of teens are posting personal in-

52 Techniques MaY 2011 www.acteonline.org formation such as name, age and address, and are chatting with people they have met in chat rooms and social networking sites. The Internet is misleading in that people use it in seclusion, feeling somewhat anonymous and safe when they post their personal accounts and photos. People are posting where they live, not only with text, but with the photos taken from their smartphones. Taking pictures using mobile phones with GPS capability will embed the longitude and latitude of where the photo was taken. Therefore, if you post a photo on a social networking site taken in front of your house using your smartphone, and mention you are going on vacation next week or that you work every day—you have just sent an open invitation to a burglar.

Online Predators There are not enough FBI agents to locate and arrest every online predator. PhOTO BY ISTOCK.COM Therefore, it is important for educators to teach young people of all ages about the dangers of the Internet. A great resource for educators to teach kids of all ages “INTERNET SECURITY IS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC about Internet safety is netsmartz.org. This FOR EdUCATORS dUE TO CURRICUlUMS Web site contains content (videos, Power- NOW INCORPORATING TOOlS SUCh AS ThE Points and activities) for parents, teach- INTERNET, GOOGlE dOCS, E-PORTFOlIOS ers and children of all ages that helps to ANd COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.” stress important issues such as: never meet someone in person that they have met online, or give out personally identifying The FBI suggests keeping comput- while driving. LG Mobile Phones spon- information. Monitoring a child’s technol- ers in a common room. Think hard sored a study surveying 1,017 teens. The ogy use can be overwhelming. The FBI before buying a device that has Internet study showed that 45 percent of teens suggests a few signals to determine if a capabilities. Set ground rules for use if admit to texting while driving, and 41 per- child is a target of an online predator: purchased. Communicate with kids about cent admit to some form of sexting (sent, the potential dangers on the Internet. Use received, or forwarded a text with sexual • Child spends large amounts real examples that will resonate with kids. content). Eight students from a Pennsylva- of time online. A suggestion specifically for parents is to nia high school recently learned a tough • Child receives phone calls from maintain access and randomly check their lesson about sexting. The teens, who all people you don’t know. children’s activities on any social network knew one another, were accused of using • Child turns monitor off when and e-mail accounts. their mobile phones to take and send nude you come into the room. photographs of one another, resulting in a • Child becomes withdrawn from Teens and Mobile Phones felony pornography charge for each of the the family. The two main problems that are in the teens (Miller and Hirschkorn, 2010). Some • Child receives gifts through the mail limelight right now regarding kids and teens do not realize sexting is against the (bus tickets, mobile phones, Web cams). mobile phones are sexting and texting law. Even if they are familiar with the law,

www.acteonline.org MaY 2011 Techniques 53 they may not think they will get caught. enough, since people can hide the phone rects phone calls and texts (using GPS to They need a reminder that once you send while they are texting—or again, do not determine speed). A number of companies something out, you can’t take it back; think they will get caught. Granted, once have already announced various solutions there is also a chance that whatever they an accident occurs, texting can be verified to prevent texting while driving (Purdy, are sending can become viral (each person simply by analyzing the mobile phone. 2010). sending to another and so on). Obviously, at this point it is too late; Another solution is setting expectations No one would argue that texting while the accident has occurred. It would be and rules for cell phone usage; sometimes driving is an extreme problem. There beneficial for parents to install software on the teens engage in this behavior because are laws in some states outlawing texting their children’s mobile phones that either they think mom and dad aren’t checking while driving. However, laws are not prevents texting while driving, or redi- the phone. Talk to teens about the legal ramifications of sexting and texting while driving.

Viruses Viruses are not a new problem, but they are certainly a bigger problem than ever before. In the past, hackers needed a high skill level even to create a relatively simple virus. Now, due to the extensive knowl- Best edge base on the Internet, very sophisti- cated viruses can be created with a relatively low skill level. Users can mitigate this problem just by being cognizant of the latest scam. One way to avoid a virus is Practices don’t be so quick to click! Pop-up windows and Innovations that prompt users to download antivirus software or claim that they will scan Conference your computer for malware are probably 2011 scams. Clicking on them could install the malware on your computer. Sometimes Save the Date! these FakeAV (Fake Antivirus, Rogue Antivirus, ScareWare) are sent directly to When: the victim as an attachment or as a link in September 28 – 30, 2011 a spam e-mail message (SOPHOS, 2010). Where: The e-mail message will prompt a user to visit a Web site where they will be asked to Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa pay for the elimination of the nonexistent Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas virus.

Mark your calendar and prepare to learn Phishing Scams from CTE leaders from around the country Another danger to Internet users is phishing scams. Users are lured to provide Registration and program information will be personal information, typically through available at www.acteonline.org/bestpractices11.aspx e-mail and instant messaging. Criminals Don’t miss this great opportunity! use botnets (robot networks), to perpetu- ate phishing scams. Botnets are multiple computers that are infected with a virus that enable a single hacker to remotely control the infected computers to send out

54 Techniques MaY 2011 www.acteonline.org “INTERNET SAFETY ShOUld BE TAUGhT AS PROACTIvElY References AS OUR WOOd ANd METAl ShOP TEAChERS TAUGhT Enck, W., Gilbert, P., Chun, B., Cox, L., US SAFETY IN JUNIOR hIGh BEFORE WE USEd ThE Jung, J., McDaniel, P., Sheth, A. (2010). CIRCUlAR ANd TABlE SAWS; ThE PREdATORS ANd “TaintDroid: An Information-Flow Tracking System for Realtime Privacy Monitoring on CYBER CRIMINAlS ARE JUST AS dANGEROUS.” Smartphones.”

Prensky, M. (2001, October). “Digital e-mails. The botnet will enable thou- It seems that cyber criminals are also Natives, Digital Immigrants,” on the Horizon, sands of e-mails to be sent out appearing targeting smartphones. This is for a MCB University Press, Vol. 9, No. 5. to come from a legitimate source. The couple of reasons: sales of smartphones Purdy, J. (2010, March). “Inside Mobile: e-mail will ask for sensitive personal in- have increased over the past year, and it Using Mobile Technology to Prevent Texting formation that some victims will provide. is convenient for users and developers to While Driving,” enterprise Mobility.

For example, if you receive a message download and create applications for their SOPHOS. (May 2010). “What is FakeAV?” from what appears to be a bank, you smartphones. In addition, the mobile- A Sophos white paper. should avoid replying to the e-mail and phone operating systems are unsophis- McAfee. “The Secret Online Lives of Teens.” avoid clicking on any links. This is a com- ticated in regulating access to private mon phishing scam designed to convince information such as name and location of Steel, E., Fowler, G. (2010, Oct. 18). you that your money is at risk. Other the phone user (Enck et. al., 2010). “Facebook in Privacy Breach,” the Wall Street Journal. scams attempt to trick you into clicking An inter-unversity team of research- on links by promising huge profits for ers developed an application called Myers, D. (2010, Sept. 25). “Popularity of little or no investment. TaintDroid that determines if a smart- Social Networking Sites Leads to More Home These are all forms of online “social phone application captures users’ private Burglaries,” Bucks County Courier times. engineering,” a term popularized by information. The researchers randomly Acohido, B. (2010, July 30). “Banks Seek hacker turned consultant Kevin Mitnik. selected 30 applications and found that Customers’ Help to Stop Online Thieves,” Social engineering is a non-technical in- two-thirds of the applications suspiciously USA todAY. trusion that relies on manipulating people handled the user’s sensitive information. Acohido, B. (2010, Aug. 3). “Cybercrooks into divulging confidential information. In addition, half of the applications they Use Web Apps to Infiltrate Smartphones,” Cyber criminals find ways to trick users tested sent the user’s location to remote USA todAY. into providing sensitive information such advertising servers (Enck et.al., 2010). Miller, M., Hirschkorn, P. (2010, June 5). as passwords via e-mail, instant messag- This may make teens think twice about “Sexting Leads to Child Porn Charges for ing and social networking sites. Another downloading the cute Disney wallpaper Teens.” CBS News. example of a social engineering scam is for their phones. e-mail messages imitating a network ad- Joanna F. DeFranco, Ph.D., ministrator attempting to fix your e-mail Looking ahead is assistant professor of software engineering, Penn State or bank account. The technology that is available to University School of Graduate Professional Studies. She can be students and educators can be a very contacted at [email protected]. “Free” applications effective way to enhance curriculum As we should know—nothing is free. and instruction. However, the educator The applications you can get on social needs to take a part in the responsibility Want to make a difference? Provide students with the safety knowledge networking sites or on the Web for your of teaching the students how to use the that can save their lives and make them more competitive in the smartphone may be costing you your technology safely. Our students are the job market. personal information. Even if you are next generation of our workforce, and How? Purchase the National Youth Safety Initiative™ CareerSafe® using social networking with the strictest these are additional life skills that need to Online interactive, web-based OSHA privacy settings, your information is be taught. Internet safety should be taught training program, and give them the opportunity to earn their Federal not safe. Recently it was discovered that as proactively as our wood and metal shop OSHA 10-Hour Cards, for only $18 per student. Facebook apps have been providing teachers taught us safety in junior high user personal information to dozens before we used the circular and table saws; 1 Youth at work is... of advertising and Internet tracking the predators and cyber criminals are just Killed Every 5 Days Hospitalized Every 7 Minutes companies (Steel and Fowler, 2010). as dangerous. careersafeonline.com Injured Every 2 Minutes