Digital Safety: A Teacher's Guide

With the constant integration of new technology in all aspects of education, we want to make sure students AND teachers know how to protect themselves online! We have compiled the most important tips and resources that may be helpful to any teacher using technology in the classroom!

Strong Passwords

Having strong passwords is a crucial part of device and data security. There are a few rules you should follow when creating strong passwords, which include: 

• Try to use a different password for every account if possible 

• Should have 8 or more characters 

• Should include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters

• Should not contain any personal information and should be as random as possible 

Making a strong password is important, but so is keeping it secure. Here are some tips for keeping your passwords secure: 

• Don’t tell anyone your passwords 

• Change them regularly if you can 

• Never write them down 

• Don’t type passwords into computers you don’t trust 

Here is a link to check how secure your password is: https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/

Remembering all these complex passwords might be hard or even impossible. That is why it is a good idea to use a password manager. A password manager is a collection of your account passwords that is password protected itself. This means if someone wanted to access your passwords they would have to know the password to your password manager. There are many free password managers you can use, some of which can be found in the Chrome webstore, and used as an extension in your browser. There are also free password managers on your phone’s app store. 

Here are some good password managers: 

• Dashlane password manager

• Norton Password Manager 

• Google Password Manager 

Multi-Factor Authentication! 

This entails having multiple ways of signing in or verifying who you are on your devices and accounts. This can be any combination of things including a fingerprint, face recognition, phone number verification, email verification, a numerical pin, a lettered passcode, or a physical key. This can also be known as two factor authentication(2FA), which will use two ways to verify who you are. 

Much like the diagram below, Google has a good method of verification where if you are trying to log into your email from a new device, it will send you a code on your phone to make sure that it's actually you trying to sign in. To do this you have to set up multi-factor authentication for your Google account. 

You can find instructions to set up 2 step authentication for your Google account here:  https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185839?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop 

Update!

Oftentimes computers that are provided by the school are updated by the IT department periodically, but certain applications including your web browser(Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari)  need to be updated on a regular basis. When you update applications it could fix a vulnerability that was found that could allow an attacker to gain access to your information. You want to make sure your applications, and devices are up to date to avoid getting hacked. Try to update applications as soon as a new update is released! 

Be Email Smart! 

Phishing is a method attackers use to try and get your personal information.It entails gaining personal information by sending fake emails that look like they are important or from a trusted friend/company. 

They are oftentimes used to gain banking information. An attacker might send you an email pretending to be your bank, telling you that you need to sign into your account. Once you do, then they will have your bank sign in and can do with that what they want. 

Spear phishing is a type of phishing in which the attacker has some sort of personal information about you which they use to make them seem more trustworthy. They might try to get you to click on a sketchy link or to gain important personal information. Spear phishing emails are sometimes harder to spot because they are more personalized and you are more prone to believe it's true. 

An example would be if your school systems emails gets hacked, and then you get an email that looks like its from your principal saying “IMPORTANT PLEASE READ”, which contains a link. You might click on that link without thinking to look to see if the email is actually the principles, since you think its from a trustworthy sender. 

Filter Your Email!

Filtering your email can be a great way to stay organized, but it can also help you help you filter out unwanted emails or phishing emails. 

Here’s how to do it: 

• Go to your gmail search bar, and click on the this symbol on the right 

• Enter in any sender you want to filter out, or any words you want to filter, then click on the “create filter” button at the bottom 

• You can assign emails to have certain labels. Such as if you get an email from a co-worker you can make a filter so that the email goes straight to a “work” label. Labels will appear on the left side of your email. 

Here is a link to learn more about email filters: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en

Think Before You Click! 

The internet is full of links that contain malicious content, such as malware. You have to be vigilant when clicking on links, especially on a site that doesn’t look trustworthy or from a phishing email. 

In Google Chrome, you have the ability to view what website a link will take you too before you actually click it. If you hover over the link, a little popup in the bottom left of the screen will show you the link destination. This is helpful if you feel like a link might not be trustworthy(such as if a student sends you a link to try and prank you). 

In the picture above, I hovered over a Google link about phishing. When I hovered over it, a gray bar with a white link appeared in the bottom left corner of the screen. The link that popped up can be seen below: 

We know that this link will take us to the page it says it will because it's the same URL as the one that is shown on Google (www.barracuda.com) and includes the same words in the title of the link (such as phishing-protection). 

Use Antivirus!

There are many different threats to your computer, including malware. Malware is software code that is designed to cause damage to your computer. Below are different examples of malware: 

Virus: 

• Malicious code that replicates itself into a program on a device that can cause harm to files or the device itself. 

Spyware: 

• Software that invades your computer with the intent on gaining personal information(such as banking info, passwords, web history etc)  without you knowing it's there. 

Worm: 

• Worms self-replicate so that they can spread to other computers. They are intended to cause problems to the network which makes it run slower. They can also cause damage to infected computers. 

Ransomware: 

• Encrypts your files so you cannot access them until you pay a specified ransom. 

Trojan: 

• Otherwise known as a Trojan horse(like in the Odyssey), a Trojan disguises itself as legitimate software with the intent of getting you to run malicious code. 

Using antivirus software helps protect your files and your computer! If your school does not already have one installed, there are a variety you can choose from which can be found here. 

Cyberbullying: Notice the Signs 

With an increased use of technology among teens and kids, cyberbullying is all too prevalent and oftentimes goes unnoticed. As a teacher it's important to look for signs of cyberbullying among students.