Zaprudnov: it is important to be careful about your digital footprint – scammers can “revive” your photos

April 24, 2024, 19:19

The Deputy Minister of Digital Development of the Nizhny Novgorod Region held an open lesson for schoolchildren as part of the Digital Educational Education project.

Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Communications of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Denis Zaprudnov, as part of the educational project “Digital Educational Program,” held an open lesson on protecting accounts on social networks and instant messengers for students of school No. 34.

The event was also attended by the youth minister of digital development and communications of the region, Alexander Solovyov.

Schoolchildren learned how to protect themselves from cyber fraudsters and what to pay attention to when receiving suspicious messages from friends. They were told about the criteria for a strong password, as well as the most reliable methods of protection: face, SMS, QR code, push notification, fingerprint. Using a live example, the Deputy Minister showed schoolchildren how, using a neural network, attackers can use carelessly left data.

“Especially for this lesson, I created a video file from my photo using a neural network, where the robot speaks to the students on my behalf. If you look carefully, you will notice that the appeal was not made by a person. But in a moment of panic, and scammers often focus on spontaneity, you may not notice the fraudulent scheme. I am sure that after this lesson, Nizhny Novgorod students will be more attentive to their digital footprint,” noted Denis Zaprudnov.

The formation of these skills in the younger generation corresponds to the objectives of the national project “Digital Economy”, approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Most scenarios for theft of instant messenger or social network user accounts involve an attempt to steal credentials through social engineering techniques. In this case, a person is usually motivated under various pretexts to enter credentials on the attackers’ portal. Such resources can be very similar to real ones. The difference from them will always be the domain name of the site, which cannot be faked. Attackers deliberately make mistakes in the name to confuse the user.

As part of the lesson, schoolchildren completed a test on the topic of the lesson and were able to ask questions of interest to the guests of the lesson.

Nizhny Novgorod residents can become participants in the project on their own. “Digital educational program” is intended for the age category 6+, recommended for viewing with parents or teachers and verified by the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Institute for the Study of Childhood, Family and Education.” The site also provides teaching materials for teachers that will help effectively integrate videos into the educational process in life safety lessons, computer science, or parent-teacher meetings. The Nizhny Novgorod Institute for Educational Development provides organizational and methodological support in schools in Nizhny Novgorod and the region.

Let us remind you that “Digital Educational Program” is an all-Russian educational project in the field of digital literacy, organized by the ANO “Digital Economy”, the Ministry of Digital Development and the Ministry of Education of Russia. The project includes a series of educational animated videos and teaching materials for teachers, who teach children and adults the basics of digital literacy and cybersecurity using clear examples.