Year 9 · Autumn 2

Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Social engineering and phishing

TheoryTopic 17 Cybersecurity

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

You will learn to

  • Explain what social engineering is: tricking a person, not breaking a computer.
  • Identify the tells of a phishing email: the sender, the link, urgency and spelling.
  • Describe blagging (a made-up story) and shoulder surfing, with an example of each.
  • Explain why a well-made phishing email can fool careful people.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Success criteria

You have got it when you can say:

  • I can pick out the two phishing emails from five, with two reasons for each.
  • I can check where a link really goes without clicking it.
  • I can write a phishing email that would fool me, and label its tricks.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Retrieval starter

Questions from before. Write your answers, then show them.

  1. Last unit

    word = "Python". What is word[1:4]?

    A "Pyth"B "yth"C "ytho"

    B. "yth"

  2. Last unit

    Typing your new password twice so they can be compared is…

    A AuthenticationB ValidationC Verification

    C. Verification

  3. Last year

    A variable made inside a function is…

    A Global: usable anywhereB Saved to a fileC Local: only exists inside it while it runs

    C. Local: only exists inside it while it runs

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Key words (1 of 2)

Phishing
Fake messages that trick people into giving details.
Malware
Malicious software: viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware.
Brute force
Trying every possible password until one works.
Encryption
Scrambling data so only someone with the key can read it.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · 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 · part 1 of 2

Social engineering

  • Phishing: fake messages that look official and lead to a fake login page.
  • Blagging: a made-up story: 'I'm from IT, I need your password.'
  • Shoulder surfing: watching someone type a PIN.
  • Baiting: an infected USB stick labelled 'Salaries' left lying around.

The explanation · step 1 of 1 · part 2 of 2

Social engineering (continued)

!Watch out

Phishing signs: urgency, threats, spelling mistakes, a sender or link that's nearly right, asking for your password. Real companies never ask.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Quick quiz · 1 of 3

A fake bank email asking you to log in is…

  1. A Brute force
  2. B Phishing
  3. C A worm

B. Phishing

It fishes for your details with a fake message.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Quick quiz · 2 of 3

Which spreads across a network without anyone opening a file?

  1. A Trojan
  2. B Worm
  3. C Virus

B. Worm

A worm copies itself by itself. A virus needs a person to share the file.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Quick quiz · 3 of 3

Ransomware mainly breaks which part of the CIA triad?

  1. A Integrity
  2. B Availability
  3. C Confidentiality

B. Availability

Your files are still there but you can't use them: availability.

Year 9 · Cybersecurity · Lesson 1 of 5

Exit ticket

Answer on paper before you go. Then check.

  1. Which makes a password hardest to crack?

    A Swapping o for 0B Adding ! at the endC Adding length

    C. Adding length Each extra character multiplies the possibilities; swaps are tried first by attackers.

  2. Caesar shift 1: 'CAT' becomes…

    A CAT1B BZSC DBU

    C. DBU C→D, A→B, T→U.