Year 9 · Autumn 2 · CybersecuritySocial engineering and phishing
Topic 17 Cybersecurity
KS3 Computing · Cybersecurity protects computers and data. Most attacks trick people or use weak systems, so good defences cover both.
Networks and Digital CommunicationCambridge Lower Secondary Computing 0860
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.
Success criteria
- 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.
- 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.
- Firewall
- Checks network traffic and blocks what isn't allowed.
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.
!Watch outPhishing signs: urgency, threats, spelling mistakes, a sender or link that's nearly right, asking for your password. Real companies never ask.
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