Module 8: Beware 'the dark web"

A recent Sydney Morning Herald article described the 'dark web' as "the internet's evil twin" (Callaghan, 2018) and made a distinction between it and 'the clear web' which is what we access every day.  There is so much in this article that could be applied to this module - it's an interesting, and somewhat terrifying read.  Check it out: https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-dark-web-uncovering-monsters-and-myths-in-the-net-s-evil-twin-20180307-p4z39d.html

Disturbingly, if you Google 'the dark web', there are pages and pages on how to access it.  

ESC407 Module 7/8 lecture (Tinkler, 2017) discussed ensuring that students know WHY they need to take certain precautions online which I believe is valuable advice.  As the mother of 2 teenagers, I feel that I have a high level of awareness of issues like online safety, privacy, inappropriate material and behaviour.  Our school is very proactive in this area and regularly bring in experts and conducts sessions (for both parents and students) in how to be safe and responsible online.  What I know less about is hacking and malware (what???), so I decided to focus my post this week on this area of concern with technology integration. Despite the last 15 years of my career being pretty much exclusively conducted online, I was amazed at my ignorance of this aspect.  I've heard of the 'dark web' but just thought it was dodgy sites - I had no idea it was a completely different internet.  I think because most companies have IT sections that look after security and I have McAfee on my home computer, I've made a conscious decision not to  really think about it.  Not any more.

I believe that behaviour change at the high school level is the same as creating change within an organisation and as such, it is very important to emphasise the “who, what, where, why and how” of what it is you want people to do (Moran & Brightman, 2000).  If students are aware of the reasons that they need to take precautions, they are more likely to do so…and the reasons are compelling.

The first of the computer viruses were developed, almost like a proof of concept – can it be done?  Seems that where hacking and virus development was a bit of fun or an intellectual challenge, once the opportunity to make money and create power was realised, the game changed (Honan, 2011).   Attack of computer systems is now big business and has financial, political and national security implications.

Malware is short for malicious software and is “any piece of software that has the intent of causing harm to data, devices or people (Lemonnier, 2015).  Malware can be categorised as virus, Trojans, worms, ransomware, adware and botnets and all have the intent to do harm via different mechanisms. The most serious of these is the collection of details, financial information, locations, which can then be used in a variety of nefarious ways such as identity theft, stalking, monetary theft, theft of government information, blackmail and so on.  Whilst not so dangerous, malware can also watch whatever you do online, tracking keystrokes and analysing your interests, online habits and so on in order to target the information that you get served up in the form of advertisements and suggested information.  Should they choose to, Governments can access and use our personal information to target election campaign messages and inform policy development and budgetary decisions. 

Education is increasingly a target for ‘the dark web’ and criminal enterprises, with stories from the US of deliberate targets within the Department of Education reported in late 2017 (Hess, 2017).  As schools are repositories for a lot of private and sensitive information, the extortion possibilities are significant and the education sector is reported to have accounted for 13% of data breaches in the first half of 2017 (Biddle, 2017).  Whilst no major attacks have been reported on Australian schools, they also house the sensitive information in such high demand by cybercriminals.  Increasing digitisation and budgetary and other resource constraints mean that our schools are especially vulnerable (McGettigan, 2017).  Thus, it is critical that we continue to teach our students of the value of vigilance with regards to their online security and that school administration continues to have this issue as a high priority.

References

Biddle, S.,(2017). Three of the biggest cybersecurity challenges facing the Education sector. In Business and Technology Blog, Fortinet. Retrieved from https://www.fortinet.com/blog/business-and-technology/three-of-the-biggest-cybersecurity-challenges-facing-the-education-sector.html

Callaghan, G., (2018). The dark Web:  uncovering monsters (and myths) in the Net’s ‘evil twin’. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-dark-web-uncovering-monsters-and-myths-in-the-net-s-evil-twin-20180307-p4z39d.html

Hess, A., (2017). Department of Education:  Hackers are now targeting elementary and high schools. In Consumer News and Business Channel. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/24/department-of-education-warns-that-hackers-are-now-targeting-schools.html

Honan, M. (2011). Why hackers write computer viruses. In Gizmodo Australia. Retrieved from https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/08/why-hackers-write-computer-viruses/

Lemmonier, J., (2015). What is Malware?  How Malware works and How to remove it. Retrieved from https://www.avg.com/en/signal/what-is-malware

McGettigan, J., (2017). Protecting Australia schools from Cyber attack. Retrieved from https://www.cso.com.au/article/628951/protecting-australia-schools-from-cyber-attack/

Moran, J. W., & Brightman, B. K.,(2000). Leading organizational change. Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 12 Issue: 2, pp.66-74, https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620010316226

Tinkler, J., (2017). Classroom technologies and ethical issues [ESC407 Module 8 Weekly Lecture with Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website:  https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_33885_1&content_id=_2091371_1&mode=reset