Year 7 · Autumn 1
Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Logging in, file management and strong passwords
PracticalTopic 17 Cybersecurity
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
You will learn to
- Log in to the school network, find your work area and log out safely.
- Create a folder for each subject and give files clear names.
- Explain why a long password is harder to guess than a short, messy one.
- Use the crack-time toy to compare how long different passwords take to guess.
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Success criteria
You have got it when you can say:
- I can log in, find my work area and log out.
- I can make a folder for each subject and save a file with a clear name.
- I can explain, with numbers, why 12 lower-case letters beat 8 messy characters.
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Key words (1 of 2)
- Malware
- Malicious software: viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware.
- Phishing
- Fake messages that trick people into giving details.
- Brute force
- Trying every possible password until one works.
- Encryption
- Scrambling data so only someone with the key can read it.
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Key words (2 of 2)
- Firewall
- Checks network traffic and blocks what isn't allowed.
The explanation · step 1 of 1
Why password length matters
| Password | Calculation | Possibilities |
|---|---|---|
| 4-digit PIN | 10⁴ | 10,000 |
| 8 lower-case letters | 26⁸ | about 209 billion |
| 8 of any keyboard symbol | 94⁸ | about 6 quadrillion |
| 12 lower-case letters | 26¹² | about 95 quadrillion |
A long passphrase like purple-violin-tuesday-rain beats a short messy one.
The explanation · step 1 of 1
The maths: How long to crack a password?
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Try it: How long to crack it?
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Quick quiz · 1 of 3
A fake bank email asking you to log in is…
- A Phishing
- B Brute force
- C A worm
A. Phishing
It fishes for your details with a fake message.
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Quick quiz · 2 of 3
Which spreads across a network without anyone opening a file?
- A Worm
- B Virus
- C Trojan
A. Worm
A worm copies itself by itself. A virus needs a person to share the file.
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Quick quiz · 3 of 3
Ransomware mainly breaks which part of the CIA triad?
- A Confidentiality
- B Integrity
- C Availability
C. Availability
Your files are still there but you can't use them: availability.
Year 7 · Digital Citizen · Lesson 1 of 5
Exit ticket
Answer on paper before you go. Then check.
Which makes a password hardest to crack?
A Adding ! at the endB Swapping o for 0C Adding length
C. Adding length Each extra character multiplies the possibilities; swaps are tried first by attackers.
Caesar shift 1: 'CAT' becomes…
A BZSB CAT1C DBU
C. DBU C→D, A→B, T→U.