Borysiuk (as cited in Gashi Shatri, 2020) listed the following advantages

• Motivation

• Personalized learning

• Critical thinking

• Increased independence

• Game-based learning

• Increased student involvement

• Interactive experiences

• Promotes 21st century skills

Borysiuk (as cited in Gashi Shatri, 2020) listed the following disadvantages

• Distraction

• Access to inappropriate websites

• Access to inaccurate information

When online attacker tries to trick you into believing they have a genuine purpose, but they are trying to obtain your personal information.

American College of Education (2024) stated attacks may occur in

• Emails

• Texts

• Instant messages

• Social media

• Voice messages

The two forms on phishing = smishing and vishing.

• Smishing is completed in short messages or text messages.

• Vishing is accompished by phone

Ramakrishman & Tandon (2018) defined a virus as software that can reproduce itself and gain unwanted access to a computer without the user knowing this is occurring.

Attaches itself to programs or files on the device.

Ramakrishman & Tandon (2018) stated a virus can do various things, such as

• Delete a file

• Reformat a hard disk

• Replicate itself

• Display a video or audio message.

Digital worms are similar to viruses as they also can duplicate themselves, but they do this independently and over a network.

Travels through a network and damages its performance (Ramakrishman & Tandon, 2018).

Creates copies of itself onto other computers (Ramakrishman & Tandon, 2018).

Can gain control of an infected device (Ramakrishman & Tandon, 2018).

Enables online attackers to find a hidden path into a device’s system (Ramakrishman & Tandon, 2018).

Ramakrishman & Tandon (2018) stated Trojan horses have the ability to

• Erase data

• Corrupt files

• Install viruses

• Collect emails then use them for spam

• Interfere with antivirus or firewall programs

Google searches for projects

Emails

Social media platforms, such as Twitter for gaining information

Storing student record and data online

Filters are used to block URLs or unwanted material (American College of Education, 2024).

American College of Education (2024) stated several of the types of filters

• Browser-based web filters

• Search engine filters

• Content-limited ISP

• Network-based filters

Krueger (2016) explained personnel should be open and honest with communication about why schools collect data and how it is being guarded.

School Districts must abide by two laws.

• Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

In ordinance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) administration should monitor student devices.

An example program is Gaggle.

• Gaggle monitors the safety of students on their school provided device (Gaggle.Net Inc., 2023)

Inventory devices on a regular basis.

Create a strong and secure password.

Utilize a backup system for data recovery.

Become educated on the safety and security.

Teachers, staff and students need to learn digital citizenship skills.

Resource: Common Sense Media

• Delivers a safer environment for using media and technology while promoting equitable access for students (Common Sense Media, n.d.).

• Example: provides lessons on digital citizenship.

American College of Education (2024) explained CIPA requires school districts to implement an internet safety policy.

Helps alleviate the concern of students having access to offensive, vulgar or dangerous content when using the Internet (Federal Communications Commission, 2019).

Explicitly outlines the rules school district personnel must follow to ensure the privacy of student’s records (​Underwood, 2017)​.

Gives parents rights in regards to their child's educational records (U.S. Department of Education, 2021).

IBM is a technology company that provided a blog post on cyber threats. Badman (2021) stated the more you know about cyber threats the more you can protect yourself.