Online Safety and Cybersecurity

Lesson Content

Recognizing Scams

Identifying phishing emails

What is a phishing email?

• An email from someone you don’t know, who is trying to get something from you
  • These emails can look like they’re from someone you know, but it is a scammer (bad guy) using their account or name
• They will usually ask for bank information, login information, or even your Social Security number

Phishing emails will have a sense of urgency, using deadlines or words like “urgent” or “act now”

• This is to get users to act without stopping and thinking through their actions

They will request sensitive information

• Companies will never ask for anything personal over email. Any request like this is a major red flag

Suspicious sender addresses

• Sometimes the email will look correct, but upon closer inspection some things could be wrong
  • Like amazon.com vs amaz0n.com (the zero instead of the “o”)
  • Or they will have a generic email domain, like Gmail or yahoo, instead of a corporate domain

Generic greetings

• The email may start with “Dear Customer” or “Hello Valued Member”, because they don’t know your name or are sending out the email to many people.

Poor Grammar or Spelling

• This is one of the biggest hints to phishing or scam emails, as real companies will never have typos

Unexpected Content

• Emails that are sent to many people may not even pertain to you specifically
• Like telling users they need to input their PayPal (an online banking platform) information when they do not have a PayPal account

Password Security

Strong passwords are the most important item in online safety. While it can be difficult to remember long or complex passwords, there are applications that can make it easier

How to create a strong password?

• Good passwords are at least eight (8) characters, but the best is twelve (12) or more
  • Longer passwords are harder to crack
• Passwords should be complex
  • They need to contain a mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters (like $, !, ?, or &)
  • Many websites will require some of these specifications
• Avoid predictability!
  • Try to stay away from generic words like “password” or numbers in an order like “12345”

A password manager is a tool that remembers your password for you

• Google chrome, a web browser, has a great built in password manager
  • When you log into a website, google may prompt you to save your password for future use
  • This will autocomplete your login information the next time you login to that website
  • Avoid saving information on public computers!
• There are other applications that will also store passwords, like the “passwords” app on Apple iPhone

Safe Browsing

Another important subject related to online safety is understanding the websites you are using

Safe websites will start with “https”

• The “s” on the end stands for secure

They will also have a little lock symbol in the search bar (where the website address is)

Avoiding Malware is very important

• Do not download anything from the internet if you do not know the website
• Many computers will ask you if you meant to download something, as it could be potentially harmful

Using antivirus software will help users avoid malware

• Windows has a built-in antivirus software that many users appreciate
• You can download free antivirus software or buy antivirus software from trusted companies, but many companies (like Windows or Apple) have built in protection, so most of them are not needed