Safer Internet Day

Today is Safer Internet Day, which promotes the safe use of digital technology for children and young people. There can be a lot of misconceptions about what is and is not safe in terms internet usage, which is why it is so important that experienced people, like the wonderful Raspberry Pi community, do their bit to highlight positive uses of technology, and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community.

child looking through a magnifying glass

If you teach computing, volunteer in a Code Club, or just want to spread the word about using technology safely and responsibly among the kids you know, why not check these projects out? You might even learn some nifty tricks yourself!

Secret Agent Chat

Secret agent chat

Fancy yourself as a bit of a James Bond? Our Secret Agent Chat resource teaches you how to create and use an effective encryption technique called a one-time pad. You’ll also learn a little about the history of cryptography, and why other forms of cipher are insecure. Remember that Safer Internet Day is all about the responsible use of technology, and try not to provoke any diplomatic incidents with your new-found power…

Username Generator

Wake up, Neo…

If you want to generate a username which is neither insecure nor boringly obvious, have a look at this project. You’ll learn how to generate a range of different aliases, and even make profile pictures to go along with them. Again, be sure to use your powers for good rather than evil!

Password Generator

Spaceballs bad password

Don’t be like President Skroob: make yourself a password which is actually secure. This project teaches you how to generate random, secure passwords, as well as allowing you to specify how many passwords you want and how long they should be. No roving intergalactic baddies will be stealing the air from the planet Druidia on your watch!

You can find out more about Safer Internet Day 2017 on the UK Safer Internet Centre’s website, which also contains education packs for learners, parents, and carers. You’ll have to furnish the 007-style tuxedo and flying Winnebago yourself, though.

8 comments

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Obligatory XKCD https://xkcd.com/936/

Random password strings are not as secure as passphrases as they are not memorable and end up on a sticky note.

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Obligatory reminder that this is no longer good advise

http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/62832/is-the-oft-cited-xkcd-scheme-no-longer-good-advice

Bottom line: use a password generator and a keyring and/or 2 factor authentication

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FWIW, I wrote a Scratch Diceware passphrase generator

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/143669086/ – this one uses an improved wordlist from EFF, but my original

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/127521819/

uses the original Diceware word list

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Having a strong password will definitely protect you online but there is a list of other things that need to be done to improve security on the Raspberry Pi. Many people are exposing their Pi’s to the internet and don’t even realize how exposed they are.

The Raspberry Pi foundation needs to start taking security more seriously and I am glad they removed SSH being enabled on a new install.

There’s a basic list here:
http://kamilslab.com/2017/01/29/5-best-basic-security-tips-and-tricks-every-raspberry-pi-user-needs-to-take/

It explains that you should remove the ‘pi’ user or at least changing the default user password. You should also change your SSH port if you do enable it on the Pi.

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At work, passwords have to be at least 7 characters and one capital. Mine is SneezyGrumpyBashfulDocHappySleepyDopey Edinburgh!

I’ll get my coat!

Cheers,
Norm.

Liz Upton

Actually laughed out loud. Thanks Norm!

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Oh, no!
I am not using Flash as it is disabled by the admins!

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