← ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10

Oversharing fuels targeted attacks

Posting personal details online, like pet or school names, which attackers use to guess passwords and write convincing targeted messages.

Part of: ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10 — Cyber Security Threats and Vulnerabilities — Module 70

Understanding Oversharing fuels targeted attacks in ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10

What it does: A pet name posted online makes a password easy to guess, even with a year added on the end. Details gathered from oversharing make a spear phishing message look personal and trustworthy. Each detail is a clue. Combined, a school, pet name and birthday give attackers plenty to guess passwords or write a convincing message. Your digital footprint is everything about you that can be found online. Attackers search it for details to use against you. Private settings help, but screenshots, shares and breached accounts can still leak your details. Think before you post. Not sharing the details in the first place takes away the facts attackers use. Changing a guessable password often does not fix the problem.

Common mistakes: Python cannot add a string (pet) to a number. 2024 must be in quotes, "2024", so the pet name and year join into a guessable password. A single = assigns a value. An if statement needs == to compare, so the line should be if shared == True:.

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This module's key terms are also in a printable crossword (Modules 810–827) and word search (Modules 810–859).

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Learning
Duo
Maya posts a photo captioned 'My dog Biscuit is 5 today!' and later uses Biscuit5 as her password. What is the main risk?
The photo will give her device a virusAttackers can read her post and guess her password
Matches
password = "Hillcrest7" # my school and year level
↓
The password is built from a school name and year level that are probably public on social media, so an attacker could guess it.
Applying
Meanings
Term
oversharing
Meaning
Posting personal details online, like pet or school names, which attackers use to guess passwords and write convincing targeted messages.
Practice
pet = "Buddy"
Testing
Gaps
guess = petName schoolYear
Check Answer
Spots
1pet = "Rex"
2password = pet + 2024

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Quick Questions

1. Maya posts a photo captioned 'My dog Biscuit is 5 today!' and later uses Biscuit5 as her password. What is the main risk?
A. The photo will give her device a virus
B. Attackers can read her post and guess her password ✓
Pet names and ages shared online give attackers facts to guess passwords. Oversharing and password choice are linked.
2. Which is the safer choice for a password?
A. A random passphrase with no link to your life ✓
B. Your school name and the year you started
School names are easy to find on profiles and tagged photos. Passwords should not be built from personal details.
3. An email says 'Hi Sam, your Year 10 camp deposit at Northside High is overdue.' It uses details Sam posted online. What is this?
A. Spear phishing using shared personal details ✓
B. A random spam message that knows nothing about Sam
Spear phishing is aimed at one person. Attackers use details from public posts to make the message feel real.
4. Which post gives an attacker the MOST useful information?
A. A photo of a sunset with no caption or location
B. My school, my pet's name and my birthday in one post ✓
Each detail is a clue. Combined, a school, pet name and birthday give attackers plenty to guess passwords or write a convincing message.
5. What is your digital footprint?
A. The trail of data you leave from posts, photos and accounts ✓
B. The storage space your phone uses for apps
Your digital footprint is everything about you that can be found online. Attackers search it for details to use against you.

Match the Pairs

oversharing → Posting personal details online, like pet or school names, that attackers can use to guess passwords or write targeted messages.
digital footprint → The trail of posts, photos, tags and details you leave online, which an attacker can search to learn facts about you.
An attacker reads a public post naming your pet and tries that name as your password. → password = "Biscuit2024"
A scammer uses your school, your teacher and your sports team from public posts to write a message that looks real. → Hi Mia, Mr Ford asked me to send you the Hillcrest netball roster. Click here.
password = "Hillcrest7" # my school and year level → The password is built from a school name and year level that are probably public on social media, so an attacker could guess it.
post = "Jack's pet is Rex, he is in Year 9 at Hillcrest High, and lives on Elm St!" → The post shares a pet name, year level, school and street all at once, giving attackers many facts to use in guessing passwords or targeted messages.

Key Term

oversharing
Posting personal details online, like pet or school names, which attackers use to guess passwords and write convincing targeted messages.

Fill in the Blanks

1. guess = petName + schoolYear
Hint: Type the operator that joins two pieces of text into one password guess.
2. if petName in profilePost: print("Name found")
Hint: Type the keyword that checks whether one piece of text appears inside another.
3. msg = f"Hi {name}, from {school}!"
Hint: Type the letter placed before the quotes so values in curly brackets are filled in.
4. footprint = ["photo", "tag", "check-in"] print(len(footprint))
Hint: Type the function name that counts how many items are in a list.
5. if isPublic and hasPetName: risk = "high"
Hint: Type the logical operator that needs both conditions to be true.

Spot the Error

Question 1
A pet = "Rex"
B password = pet + 2024
C print(password)
Line B — Python cannot add a string (pet) to a number. 2024 must be in quotes, "2024", so the pet name and year join into a guessable password.
Question 2
A post = "Bella at Oak High"
B shared = True
C if shared = True:
D print("Risk: guessable")
Line C — A single = assigns a value. An if statement needs == to compare, so the line should be if shared == True:.
Question 3
A school = "Oak High"
B guess = school + "123
C print(guess)
Line B — The string "123" is missing its closing quote. It should be guess = school + "123".
Question 4
A details = ["pet", "school"]
B for d in details
C print("Attackers use", d)
Line B — A for loop line must end with a colon. It should be for d in details: so the indented print runs for each detail.
Question 5
A footprint = ()
B footprint.append("school")
C footprint.append("pet name")
D print(len(footprint))
Line A — A tuple () cannot be changed, so append() fails. The digital footprint must start as a list: footprint = [].

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