Overview for Teachers

This lesson introduces students to the concept of cyber hygiene, the importance of protecting personal information online, and understanding the motivations behind hacking.

Slide 1

Welcome students to the lesson and briefly explain that today’s lesson is about maintaining clean cyber hygiene to protect against black hat hackers.

Slide 2

Share the lesson objectives of what students will be learning today.

Slide 3

Initiate a class discussion to gauge the students’ understanding of what hackers do in cyberspace.

Slide 4

Describe the role of a black hat hacker, emphasising that black hats are the one with harmful intentions that we should watch out for online. There are other types of hackers, such as white hat hackers, who work to improve security.

Slide 5

Explain the importance of cyber hygiene and its role in keeping us safe online. Draw comparisons to personal hygiene, such as washing hands regularly, that keeps us clean from viruses.

Slide 6

Introduce the concept of black hat hackers as the criminals of the online world, and the ones to protect against. Explain that this is why it’s important to learn how to be cyber safe.

Slide 7

Discuss hackers' motivations, such as stealing money or causing harm.

Slide 8

Describe common tactics used by hackers, such as phishing emails or weak passwords.

Slide 9

Emphasise that practising good cyber hygiene can help to keep black hat hackers out of our cyberspaces. Forming good cyber hygiene habits will keep online accounts more secure!

Slide 10

Outline practical daily rules for cyber hygiene that students can apply. Checking for the HTTPS and padlock symbols in the URL bar can provide reassurance that the website is safe and protected.

Slide 11

Explain that viruses often come as downloads or links, so students must be vigilant in what they click on. For students of this age group, they will likely come across malicious links sent through online game chats.

Slide 12

Remind students to always create long, strong, and secure passwords. Emphasise that passwords should also be different for every online account they set up.

Slide 13

Introduce this group activity where students are tasked to create a cyber hygiene checklist together.

Slide 14

Facilitate a collaborative activity where students create a cyber hygiene checklist. This could involve group work to brainstorm, discuss, and decide on the most important practices.

Examples: 

• A rule for visiting secure websites: “Always check for the HTTPS and padlock symbol.”

• A rule for clicking on links: “I will not click on any links that I’ve received from someone I don’t know or trust.” 

• A rule for passwords: “My passwords are long, strong, and secure.”

• A rule for downloads: “I won’t download any files from unsecure websites.”

Slide 15

Conclude with a creative exercise, such as designing posters that highlight their checklist rules, which can be displayed around the classroom.

Slide 16

Recap the key lessons, encouraging students to adopt positive cyber hygiene habits after the day’s lesson.

Slide 17

Reinforce key messages such as the motivations of a black hat hacker and how cyber hygiene can be applied to stay safe online. Encourage students to refer to the checklist activity frequently.

Slide 18

Congratulate the students for their thoughtful participation and remind them to apply positive cyber hygiene habits online.