Security Class Page

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Exercises

Exercise 1 – Protect yourself against scams

  • Start your favourite browser.
  • Enter getsafeonline.org into the address box.
  • Scroll down the page and click on “New to the internet?” for their top 10 tips.
  • Click on each of the six menu items at the top of the page and become familiar with the structure and content of the site.
  • Click on Blog (top of the home page) to read some of the latest stories.
  • Put a question in the Search for … Ask several questions and make a note of the answers.

Exercise 2 – Do you know how to stay safe?

No matter how careful you are, it’s easy to be caught out by scammers. Do you know how to stay safe online? The following quizzes will test your knowledge about various online risks.

GCF Global (Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc, an online education company) have compiled an Internet Safety Quiz

PNC (a USA bank) have compiled a Basic Online Safety and Security Quiz

Exercise 3 – A really hard quiz about spam messages

ProProfs have created a 10 question Trivia Quiz, Facts You Must Know About Spam Messages!

Have a go, don’t expect to get many answers right, most are quite technical (hard!).

Hint: Search the Appendix A3, Glossary of online safety terms, for key words that are in the question.  You can search an electronic copy of the glossary online on this page.

Exercise 4 – Are you being phished?

Phishing attempts are becoming increasingly clever. Identifying phishing can be harder than you think. So can you tell what’s fake?

To make this quiz seem more realistic you will be asked to make up a name and email – neither need to be real.  Don’t worry. This information won’t leave your device.

  • You will be shown a series of 8 emails and asked to click on whether they are PHISHING or LEGITIMATE. If you get it wrong you will be shown why.
  • Record the number of correct answers you got.

Exercise 5 – How to report a scam

If you spot a scam, it’s not always clear who you should report it to: it depends on whether it’s an email scam, telephone scam or another type of fraud.  Which? have compiled a number of helpful notes, read Report scams to warn others, https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-report-a-scam#stop-scam-mail to find:

  • Report fraud to your bank or payment provider.
  • Report the scam to Action Fraud and the police. https://www.actionfraud.police.uk .
  • Read each of the following sections and make a note of the most important points.
  • Email scams
  • Premium rate phone scams
  • Scam adverts
  • Report junk and scam email
  • Scam companies

Exercise 6 – Check how Secure are your Passwords

You do have lots of different passwords for different service providers, don’t you?

  • Enter securepasswords.net into your browser address bar.
  • Click on Test Password Strength
  • Enter your password into the box. The strength of your password will be indicated in the Password Strength.
  • If your password is Weak or Very Weak click on one of the links in the Site Links menu to get some other ideas.
  • Alternatively try my1login. Enter https://www.my1login.com/resources/password-strength-test
  • Enter your password into the box.  The strength of your password will be indicated below together with the time it might take to crack your password.
  • My1login also shows how many Lower case, Upper case, Numbers and Symbols are used.

Exercise 7 – Has your password been stolen by hackers?

Use the website Have I Been Pawned to find out if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach or whether your password has been stolen by hackers.

  • Enter https://haveibeenpwned.com and your email address into the box.
  • Click on Passwords and enter your password(s) into the box.

Exercise 8 – Find out what is on the Internet about you

  • Start Internet Explorer and run Google, google.co.uk
  • Enter your name in the search box
  • Make a note of anything you find, and the website giving information about you, especially information you would like removed.

Exercise 9 – Online Security Checks

  • Go to https://www.f-secure.com/gb-en
  • Hover your cursor over Free Tools to see the list of tests
  • Click on Identity Theft Checker – Is your personal data exposed in breach?
  • Compare with Exercise 8.
  • Click on IP Checker Check IP address & location
  • Router Checker – Is your internet connection safe?
  • For PCs only click on Online scanner – Scan & clean your PC
  • Go to auditmypc.com.
  • For PCs only Click on Firewall Test then scroll down the page and click on Start Now! List how many of the ports are open.
  • Click on Digital Footprint. Compare with No. 4 above.

Glossary of Online Safety terms

The terms included in this glossary are explained in the context of online safety and information security. The majority are a selection from a page on the superb Get Safe Online website that has since been removed.  A number of definitions were added from a webpage that was part of Norton’s PC Tools utility portfolio which is also no longer available.