Markodimitrakis and Moschopoulos 1

A danger in your pocket!

Warm-up questions:
1) How often do you use your electronic devices for entertainment?
2) Are you aware of any potential dangers that you might come across? (cyber-bullying,
phising, hacking etc.)?
3) How would you react if you were a victim of a dangerous or illegal activity?

Reading Comprehension

A. Read the following text.

Nowadays, using our electronic devices (computers, tablelts or smartphones) extensively

has become an indispensable part of our lives. Whether this happens for communication (via the
various social platforms that we daily use) or for entertainment purposes, our traces can be found
online, which makes us more and more and more vulnerable. _____________________ What if
someone exploited our naivity or ignorance? Let's see some ways which might make us confront
any problems that might arise more effectively! Because, after all, it's better to be safe than sorry!

Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying is a means of bullying taking place in a digital environment. Its form may
diverse, but it's not that much different from bullying in real life. For example, one might receive
messages with nasty content or be threatened by rumors that are (or are to be) spread in the
social media without being necessarily true. Additionally, embarrassing pictures, videos, texts or
websites are commonly posted on social networking sites without the consent of the person
involved, which often leads to (online) harassment.
_______________________________________ Everyone should be cautious enough about
sharing personal information or accepting to meet strangers people that they do not know in their
real life in person. When someone insists on meeting you in person, you should definitely let your
parents or someone from the police department of cybercrime know.

Phishing

Phishing is an activity in which you are made to give sensitive information of yours (like
usernames, passwords, bank account or credit card details) to many web sites that are disguised as
trustworthy but in reality are malicious. It can appear as an instant messaging window or a series
of e-mails that ostensibly are pretty similar to their legitimate correspondent ones.
____________________________________________However extraordinary it may sound, the
annual worldwide impact of phishing reaches 5 billion dollars! Thus, it is vital that everyone is
extremely careful where they send personal information and whenever they notice any activity
 Markodimitrakis and Moschopoulos 2

that does not seem normal or legal, they should immediately contact the cybercrime authorities!

Hacking

Hacking is a process during which your personal devices or accounts leave your control
because a stranger has gained access to them. ______________________________ What is not
common knowledge is the fact that when you are being hacked, it does not necessarily mean that
you can't have control of your devices; you may be hacked and not know a thing about it!
Furthermore, Google itself has admitted to potentially gain control of the cameras or microphone
on any computer unless their users adjust their account settings. What you should definitely do is
hide or disconnect your web camera whenever you do not use it, and change passwords all the
time in the platforms you use more regularly.

The Blue Whale challenge

A contemporary trend in the digital world is that of the various challenges that the users set
to other users treating them as an unusual and unnatural way to count their online popularity.
______________________________________________ The latest notorious case is the so-called
Blue Whale Challenge during which the user is following unbendingly the commands of an
anonymous user, which ranges from watching horror movies to causing self-injuries to your body
or even kill yourself! Due to its dangerous and near-fatal nature, the game is hounded from the
cybercrime authorities and anyone accepting this challenge needs to contact immediately with
their parents or their teachers before they harm themselves!! For the record, the brain behind
this challenge has been arrested for being responsible for the deaths of adolescents accepting to
kill themselves while his accomplices are still being persecuted.

In general, the advances of technology make us often forget that the Web is not as innocent
or easy to handle as we would like to. __________________________________ You should always
watch out for your exposal in any way of dangerous material, without simultaneously being afraid
of using the Internet! If you do happen to be a victim though of an illegal or uncanny activity, there
are always authorities that ready to shield you from those threats and find the people behind
them! Nothing can stay secret for long even in the digital world!

*If you do want to contact the Greek authorities for anything troubling you, you can find them
here:

Phone: 11188
Email:
ccu@cybercrimeunit.gov.gr
Android application: CYBERKID

B. Now fill the gaps in the text! There is an extra sentence that you will not need to use!

I. When you are a victim of it, your personal documents, images, and data are available to
another person for malicious purposes.
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II. Last but not least, you should always be careful of the fake profiles of people with
unknown intentions.

III. Fulfilling these may lead to extreme situations that may even threat someone's life.

IV. We should always remember that the identity behind a username may or may not be
real, but whatever we do, has a real impact.

V. But are we aware of our soft spots or does all this usage allows us to neglect them?

VI. It is necessary to stay away from any rules or orders that disrespect your personality, or
might affect your behaviour towards others or even yourself!

VII. The difference lies in the fact that the real sites will never ask for something personal
without apparent reason (e.g. an electronic transaction, or a subscription to a site).

C. Are the following sentences True (T) , False (F) or Not Stated (NS)?

1. It is easy to stay hidden forever in the digital world. ..............

2. The users should give permission for everything posted about them. ..............
3. Phishing is an illegal activity. ..............
4. Our web cameras are accessible to everyone on the net. ..............
5. People believe that accomplishing online challenges makes them famous. ..............
6. he blue whale challenge might turn out dangerous for your own life. ..............
7. You should do nothing if you witness something unusual or strange. ..............

D. Find the synonyms in the text for the following words:

E. Fill the derivatives from the following words of the text.

Verb Noun Adjective Adverb

receive ______________ ______________ ____________
______________ activity ______________ ____________
______________ ______________ ______________ definitely
______________ ______________ ______________ extensively
______________ ______________ trustworthy ____________
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F. How do you understand the underlined phrases soft spots and it's better to be safe
than sorry? Can you draw any examples from your daily life?

Speaking:

A. Do you think that you are able to filter the information given to you or by you on the
Internet?

B. Have you ever found yourself completely absorbed by an activity on the Internet? Is
there a time limit on your daily usage?

C. See the following video and think how it may be connected with the topic of the text.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VASywEuqFd8)

D. What would you recommend to a friend of yours experiencing cyber-bullying or being

fully exposed on the Internet?

Writing:
You are an editor in your school newspaper and you recently read the following article.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-39729819

Write a 300-word article/open letter to your peers and teachers describing the ways with which
students can recognize and online threat, and protect themselves from any possible harm. You
should also provide them with useful information regarding where to talk to and which authorities
to contact.
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Answers:

B)
V, II, VII, I, III, IV

C)
F, NS, T, NS, T, T, F

D)
vulnerable, exploit, nasty, consent, correspondent, access, adjust, various, unbendingly, shield

E)
(answers may vary)