What we are making: good habits, and one strong password you will actually
remember.
The idea
The internet is other people. Most of them are fine. A few are not, and the ones who are not
are good at looking like the ones who are.
You do not need to be frightened of it. You need three habits.
Habit one: a password nobody can guess
Three random words is the easiest strong password to remember and the hardest to guess.
⚠ Careful
Never tell anyone your password. Not your best friend, not somebody who says they are from the school, not somebody in a game who says they will give you something for it. Your teacher will never ask you for it either.
Habit two: know what not to share
Some things are fine to put online. Some are not. The test is simple: would you be happy
for it to be on a poster in the corridor for a year?
The rule works for grown-ups too. It is not a rule about being young.
Habit three: ask whether it is real
Things on the internet are not true because they are on the internet. Before you believe
something, ask three questions.
Who made this, and why? Somebody selling something says different things from somebody explaining something.
Does anywhere else say the same? Look for two more places that are not copying each other.
Is it trying to make me feel something? Anger and fear make people share without checking. That is often the point.
⚠ Careful
If a message says you must act right now — click, reply, pay, tell somebody your password — that urgency is the warning sign itself. Real things wait.
Do it — build your password
Think of three things you can see in this room. Not your name, not anything on your desk that everyone can see.
Join them with hyphens. ruler-window-orange.
Say it out loud to yourself five times. Do not say it to anyone else.
Write it in your notebook once, and keep that notebook in your bag, not your bin.
Try it — spot the fake
Your teacher will show the class four messages. Two are real, two are not. As a team, decide
which and say why, using the three questions.
What you see
Why
What to do
"Your account will close today!"
Urgency, and it wants you to panic.
Real services do not do this. Ignore, and tell an adult.
"You have won a prize, click here"
You did not enter anything.
Do not click. Delete it.
"Hi it's your friend, I lost my phone, send me..."
Someone pretending to be somebody you know.
Contact your friend another way and ask.
A link that looks almost right
One letter changed in the address.
Look at the address carefully before you click. Always.
What you learned
Three random words beats a short complicated password.
Never share a password. Nobody legitimate will ask.
The poster test: would you want it in the corridor for a year?
Ask who made it, does anywhere else agree, and is it trying to make me feel something.
Urgency is a warning sign, not a reason to hurry.
End of Unit A
You can start a computer, find your way around it, save work where you will find it again,
move without the mouse, and stay out of the obvious trouble. Next unit, you start telling the
computer what to do.
Challenge optional — only if you finish early
Write down three things about you that are safe to put online, and three that are not.
Ask somebody at home which they would add to the second list.