Who Are Your Friends?

This activity developed by Northrop Grumman and Learning Undefeated helps students understand safe internet use through the lens of cybersecurity.

In this activity, students will act as members of the school’s cyber-defense team to help a student clear his name of accusations and walk the stage at graduation. Students will investigate the victim’s social media account and email for clues. Then provided objects found in the victim’s locker, students will break codes to determine who broke into the victim’s social account.

Learning Objectives

Standards Alignment + Connections

Computer Science Teachers Association Standards Connections

1B-NI-05. Discuss real-world cybersecurity problems and how personal information can be protected.

2-NI-05. Explain how physical and digital security measures protect electronic information.

2-NI-06. Apply multiple methods of encryption to model the secure transmission of information.

2-IC-23. Describe tradeoffs between allowing information to be public and keeping information private and secure.

Maryland Computer Science Standards Connections

5.NI.C.01. Define personal identifiable information (e.g., digital footprint) and why it should be protected as related to real-world cybersecurity problems.

5.NI.C.02. Discuss real-world cybersecurity problems and explain how personal information can be protected (e.g., antivirus software, backing up data, strong passwords).

7.NI.C.01. Explain how to protect electronic information using both physical (hard drive) and digital measures; explain existing cybersecurity concerns with the internet and the systems it uses.

7.IC.SLE.01. Explain the connection between the longevity of data on the internet, personal online identity, and personal privacy.

8.NI.C.01. Evaluate physical and digital security measures that have been developed and implemented to protect electronic information; discuss the impacts of hacking, ransomware, scams, fake scams, and ethical/legal concerns.

12.NI.C.01. Compare and refine ways software developers protect devices and information from unauthorized access including complex encryption algorithms such as public key encryption.

10.NI.C.05. Recognize and prevent social engineering attacks. Differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent information.

Virginia Computer Science Standards of Learning Connections

5.9. The student will evaluate and solve problems that relate to inappropriate use of computing devices and networks.

5.10. The student will determine whether passwords are strong, explain why strong passwords should be used, and demonstrate proper use and protection of personal passwords.

6.6. The student will identify physical and digital security measures used to protect electronic information.

7.6. The student will describe how physical and digital security measures protect electronic information.

7.7. The student will identify existing cybersecurity concerns associated with Internet use and Internet-based systems and potential options to address these issues.

8.6. The student will evaluate physical and digital security measures used to protect electronic information.

8.7. The student will identify impacts of hacking, ransomware, scams, fake vulnerability scans, and the ethical and legal concerns involved. Exclusion: Students do not need to implement solutions.

8.9. The student will describe tradeoffs between allowing information to be public and keeping information private

8.13. The student will identify existing cybersecurity concerns associated with Internet use and Internet-based systems and potential options to address these issues.

CSF.7. The student will explain typical tradeoffs between usability and security and recommend security measures in a given scenario based on these (or other) tradeoffs.

Activity Components

Pre-Laboratory Engagement

Discuss with students how passwords can be strengthened: character length, letter case (upper and lowercase), symbols, numbers, and nonwords.

Have students compete to determine who can create the strongest password (i.e. the password that would take the longest to crack via brute strength).

https://passwordmonster.com

Activity

Download Student Handout (Above)

Shaun Penner, a student at Gaines High School in Baltimore, was looking forward to graduation and all the fun activities that come with the end of senior year. Shaun and his close friends, Kaitlin and Brandon, are inseparable. They spend every day after school together and even share their social media accounts with each other. They love playing games and sharing jokes on their social media until one day, a joke about school trespassing is posted on Shaun’s profile. Shaun claims he didn’t do it but the school learned of this post and has now banned him from walking the stage at graduation. Shaun is devastated and calls on you, a member of the cyber-defense team, to help clear his name and keep his graduation plans intact.

Post-Laboratory Extension

Use NOVA Lab’s Cybersecurity Lab to have students explore more about passwords, coding, and how to defeat malicious hackers.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/cyber/

Additional Resources

US Cyber Challenge: Cyber Quests

Cyber Quests are a series of fun but challenging on-line competitions allowing participants to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of information security realms. Each quest features an artifact for analysis, along with a series of quiz questions. The quests have varying levels of difficulty and complexity.

Cybersmart Challenge

Teacher-led activities using animated videos to introduce primary school students to key online safety issues including cyberbullying, protecting personal information and sharing images.

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