Cybercrime is criminal activities carried out by computers on the internet. Unfortunately, plenty of people are reckless when dealing with cybercrime. According to AT&T, “Up to 73% of users reuse passwords for their online accounts.” The following tips can help protect you from cybercrime. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) had four useful tips on how to stay safe online. The first tip is to implement multifactor authentication on your accounts. Having more information proving that the accounts are really yours makes it harder for your accounts to get hacked. The second tip is that you should always keep your software up to date. The easiest way to manage this is to turn on automatic updates for all your software. Third, is to think before you click on something. More than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email. Make sure the email comes from a credible source, and do not click on anything you do not trust. The fourth and final tip is to use strong passwords. Ideally, you should use a password manager to generate and store unique passwords.  

The second article is from the cybersecurity team from AT&T. This article is about five ways to prevent cyber-crime: how to avoid becoming a victim. The first tip is to use a current antivirus system and accept updates after you receive an official notification. The second tip is to never use the same password on different websites. You should try to complicate them with different symbols and numbers. You should not choose your name or date of birth in passwords. The next tip is to strengthen your security system by using a security system (firewall), this helps prevent unwanted traffic. The fourth tip is to pay attention to your web camera LED indicators (they are red on external devices and blue on laptops). You want to make sure your camera is on only when you are using it. The fifth and final tip is to be cautious with strangers over the internet. People can pose as on online tech support, when really it is someone else trying to get access to your computer.  

ESCAPE Analysis 

https://www.cisa.gov/4-things-you-can-do-keep-yourself-cyber-safe

E – The CISA website is a very credible and reliable source of information. It does not have an author listed, but it is published by a government website. Lots of these tips line up with other sources.  

S – This article was published by the CISA (Cybersecurity and infrastructure Security Agency), which is a U.S. government agency. The CISA works with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborates to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future. This agency has only been around for four years; however, this is the most reliable source of information I could find.  

C – The big picture is that they want more people to be aware of online threats and make sure that people have their information as secure as possible. With information more accessible to hackers than ever, people need to make sure they are taking the proper precautions when using the internet.  

A – The intended audience is anyone who has personal information online. Anyone with internet access can be potentially threatened by a cyberattack. This article is to make people aware of the dangers online and make sure they are taking measures to protect their information.  

P – This article was published to make people aware of online threats and how to defend against them.  

E – the information was presented in a concerned/informative way. This makes you think about the online dangers as threats, it makes you want to take all the correct measures for protection.  

ESCAPE Analysis 

https://cybersecurity.att.com/blogs/security-essentials/how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim-of-cybercrime-5-tips

E – The facts in this article hold up. They are like the ones listed by the CISA.  

S – This article is published by Jake Lester, a writer for the security team at AT&T. AT&T is a large provider on the internet, so I would take the information from them as reliable. 

C – The big picture of this article is to keep people the same on the internet. They give recommendations so that you can stay as safe as possible when browsing the web. 

A – The intended audience is anyone with internet access. They made the article easy to read as well as informative.  

P – this was made to help people prevent online attacks. These tips help keep peoples personal information safe and take all the precautions necessary.  

E – This information is presented in a concerned and informative tone, just like the CISA article. This article leaving you thinking, “What more can I do to protect myself online?”   

Facebook is failing to protect user data. Facebook decided not to notify over 530 million of its users whose personal data was lifted in a breach sometime before August 2019 and was recently made available in a public database (April 2021).  

According to NPR.org, “Phone numbers, full names, locations, some email addresses, and other details from user profiles were posted to an amateur hacking forum.” This contains data from users in 106 different countries. The information did not include people’s financial or health information or passwords, Facebook said. However, the data leak still leaves users vulnerable. Scammers can do an incredible amount even with the little information they have. Especially since the two-factor authentication, where users use their phone number to authenticate their accounts and get alerts from Facebook.  

According to BBC News, “An internal Facebook email, accidentally sent to Belgium-based Data News, ha revealed its strategy for dealing with the leaking of account details from 533 million users.” It suggests that Facebook expected more of these incidents, and their plan was to frame it as an industry problem that is a normal occurrence. Facebook said that the memo was genuine, and they are taking extra precautions to prevent this from happening in the future. Facebook stated that this data is old, however it now faces a probe from the Irish data commissioner. It may have broken General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, and there is a mass legal action from affected EU citizens. These people had their user information leaked, as well as phone numbers. Even a couple of years after the incident, Facebook’s users are still having issues caused by this major leak.  

In conclusion, Facebook is prioritizing themselves over its users. Facebook has not claimed any wrongdoing, stating that all the information scrapped from the site is publicly available. However, this is not an excuse for the leak. Leaking hundreds of millions of phone numbers is a violation of users’ privacy, as well as a violation of national security.  

ESCAPE Analysis NPR.org 

E: Evidence – Do the facts hold up?  

This source has a lot of verifiable information. They take information from Facebook itself, the NSA (National Security Agency), and multiple cybersecurity experts. 

S: Source – Who made this, and can I trust them?  

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/986005820/after-data-breach-exposes-530-million-facebook-says-it-will-not-notify-users

This source is an article published by NPR.org. This source is trustworthy, NPR is an extremely popular and accurate source of information. They include citations in their work and include multiple sources of information in each article.  

C: Context – What’s the big picture? 

The big picture here is that in a time where cybersecurity is becoming more and important, huge social media platforms are failing to protect user information. Not only do people risk losing their accounts, but they also risk their own privacy and safety.  

A: Audience – Who is the intended audience?  

The intended audience is anyone with a Facebook account and anyone who has invested in Facebook itself. This leak influences everyone involved with the platform, whether it is a Facebook account or whether you are tied in financially.  

P: Purpose – Why was this made? 

This article was written to inform the public about what exactly happened with the leak, and to provide more information on the subject. It is also to spread awareness, making users aware of the possible consequences.  

E: Execution – How is this information presented? 

The tone of this article is more of a critique. The article is not trying to protect Facebook in any way, it is trying to inform on the situation and provide more background to give users a better understanding of what they are dealing with.  

ESCAPE Analysis BBC.com 

E: Evidence – Do the facts hold up?  

The facts hold up with this source. It contains much of the same statistics as the NPR article and gathers information from many of the same places. It contains sources like Facebook itself, and GDPR.  

S: Source – Who made this, and can I trust them?  

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56815478

BBC News is a very trustworthy source of information. They are a very neutral source of information, considering both sides of each argument. They included statements from Facebook itself and communities around the world to paint the whole picture.  

C: Context – What’s the big picture? 

The big picture in this article is that Facebook is putting its reputation over its users. This does not give them the best look, considering Facebook had hundreds of millions of users from across the world. They want people to have more knowledge of the situation so that they can make more informed decisions.  

A: Audience – Who is the intended audience?  

The intended audience is anyone with a Facebook account and anyone who has invested in Facebook itself. This leak influences everyone involved with the platform, whether it is a Facebook account or whether you are tied in financially. 

P: Purpose – Why was this made? 

This article is written to inform the public and all Facebook users. I think that the purpose of this is also to criticize Facebook for putting themselves first over its users.  

E: Execution – How is this information presented? 

The tone of the article is to talk down to Facebook, they want to bring up issues that most people do not think about it. Half of the article talks about how Facebook prioritizes themselves, which clearly implies a specific tone when reading.  

With finials coming up next week, I find myself studying more and more. Studying for finals in college has seemed to be way more important than studying for finals in high school.

In high school I didn’t study nearly as much as I do now. I don’t know what is was about high school, but I really seemed to be lacking effort during those times. I contribute this to all of the homework we had to do in high school. For me, it seemed like I would a least get a couple of hours a homework every day. Since there were so many graded assignments throughout the semester, it made our finals seem much less important.

In high school we had homework every single day. I also seemed to take many more tests, quizzes and project. I believe that the sheer volume of assignments made my high school finals feel way less important. It felt like our finals didn’t carry that much weight because of all the other assignments.

Now from my experience in college, finals are way different. There are fewer assignments and many more projects. Lots of the assignments I have now are much more important. The project and other assignments that I have carry much more weight than in high school. Every assignment seems to have a purpose in college. To me, every assignment seems important and I feel that it makes a much bigger impact on my grade.

Overall, I feel that studying for high school finals and college finals are much different. High school has more assignments with with less weight, which made finals seem less important to me. In college I have less work but there is a greater sense of importance that I didn’t experience in high school. High school tests tend to be given more frequently than college tests. Therefore, high school exams cover less material than college exams, making them feel much less important to me.

I am not as excited as I thought I would be about going home for break. Our winter break is longer than usual this year, its about two months.

Before I got adjusted to college I thought that I would be super excited about break. Have two months off seemed like a dream. In high school, we would often have under two weeks off for the holidays. I remember wishing for a longer break, it felt like we barely had any time off from school. If I had two months off then, I could not tell you how happy I would have been.

As the last few weeks of the semester are coming to and end, I find myself not very excited for break. One reason is because I know that I am going to have to work and save as much money as possible during this time. Even though it’s during break, the thought of working forty hours a week does not make me very excited to go back home.

Another reason I find myself not wanting to go back is because of all the new friends I’ve made. One of my favorite parts about college so far is the fact the I basically live right next to all of my friends. Over break, I’m going to miss being able to walk down the hallway of my dorm and hanging out with friends in their room. I feel like I’m going to be much busier over break, and hanging out with friends is going to be less common.

Overall, I am not super excited for break. Working all the time is going to make me miss my new friends and the fun times I’ve had at college so far.

As the semester comes to a close, I find myself wanting to do schoolwork less and less. I am happy with my decision to be at school I just find it is harder than usual to stay on track.

One reason I believe that I have been feeling unmotivated recently is because grades are not updated as much as they were in high school. In high school, I remember seeing my grades change every day. This made me want to work harder, actually seeing my grade being affected with each assignment. The reason I feel less motivated is because I’m not seeing my grades change on a day to day basis. This makes me think that assignments don’t have as much weight, since I am not seeing the initial impact.

Another reason I feel unmotivated is because of the COVID regulations. I support most of the regulations, but it makes it harder to enjoy your college experience. Since we are not allowed in other dorms besides our own, I find myself spending more time in my room then I would like. For me, it makes it much harder to want to sit at my desk and do work. This is hard when I just sit it my room anyway. This gives me much less motivation, especially because we have been more cooped up then usual.

I hope that next semester the restrictions are less strict. For me, next semester is going to feel like a fresh start. Lightening up on the restrictions would definitely make my college experience more positive.

Sources: https://www.cogniaim.com/webtheme/img/bb01.gif

In high school, I would hear teachers say that college is much harder than the work that they give. They would say that professors in college would be much harder on us, such as less wiggle room for due dates and big presentations and papers. In my opinion I think high school was harder in some ways.

One reason I think that high school is harder is because you receive homework from multiple subjects on the same day. And most of the time the assignments is due the next day. This is one reason that I disliked high school so much. At times, it felt like there was no break in the work that the teachers would give you. In my experience, I would get at least three assignments that would be due the next day. It doesn’t seem like much, but after sitting in school for seven to eight hours a day, another hour or two seems kind of ridiculous.

In college, your teachers will give you a schedule ahead of time. This allows you to plan out your week so that you can make the best use out of your time. Most professors give you around a week to do your work, which is much easier and more manageable than high school.

Another issue I have with high school is the teachers. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some teachers in high school that were awesome. For the most part, my teachers in high school weren’t too great. In high school I feel like teachers care more about the homework then they do their own students. I feel that teachers aren’t as understanding in high school because they feel that their students are just trying to get their way out of doing work. This is more frustrating when you aren’t making up excuses and the teacher doesn’t believe you.

In college, professors are much more chill and understanding. If I ever have a problem, I’ll just address it in an email and my professors will get back to me. Professors seem to be much more understanding with a college student and their schedule. Every time I have asked a professor for help they have done it without hesitation. One professor even check in on my when I missed class. Overall, I feel that college is much easier and more manageable than high school.

http://charlie.student.csu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/03/uni-vs-high-school-1024×646.jpg

All my life I have been the shy kid. I remember when I was in pre-school, I would dread going there every morning. When my mom would drop me off, I would always cling to her. She would always have to pry me off of her legs so that she could go to work. After that, I would eat my breakfast as far away from the other kids as possible. Eventually, I would realize that I had nothing to fear and join the other kids. 

Now I can manage my shyness much more. It is not nearly as much of a problem when I was a kid. Now I can have regular conversations with people and you would not even be able to tell. Even though other people are not able to tell doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect me any more.  

However, I still notice my shyness whenever I have to do a presentation. This is still one of my biggest fears and the thing that I struggle with the most. I have always disliked being the center of attention, so presenting in front of an entire class is definitely a weak point for me. I know that everyone in the audience is very respectful and free of judgement, I still feel like I’m being judged. When the pressure is on my brain automatically goes to the worst scenario, and I feel super uncomfortable. This has been an ongoing battle, but it’s something that I’m slowly getting better at.

My shyness is something that has been holding me back over the years. I’ve always wanted to be a more outgoing person. I feel that I am slowly getting there, but it is a long process. Even though this has been a problem, I’m glad that I can finally start to show people the person I really am.

I feel like my whole life has been focused on the future. Even in school, each year is about preparing you for the next one. For example, when I was in middle school all of the teachers main focus was to prepare their students for high school. High school was the same way, all teachers focus on getting their students prepared for future education.

I feel like everyone focuses too much on the future. People minds are sort of trained at this point to start thinking ahead. I know that thinking ahead is productive, but most people don’t focus on what’s happening in the now.

I feel that we should live more in the moment. I tend to believe that we spend too much time reliving the past or planning too much in the future. This causes us to miss out on the great moments that are unveiling right before us. We do not take any time to enjoy what is going on in the moment. This is sad because we do not know how many more moments we’ll be fortunate enough to experience.

I’m not saying that we should spend less time planning. I think that planning ahead is very efficient and important. Setting achievable goals is a great way of giving someone personal achievement and motivation for the future. However, I feel that people have become almost too focused on the future that they miss the experiences that come in the moment.

I think people stress too much on the future. People don’t take a few minutes of their day to enjoy life. There are so many things to be happy about and thankful for, and I think people should enjoy the opportunity while they still can.

When I was growing up on school, it seemed like everyone was focused on the future. Most little kids have dreams that they want to accomplish later in life. In high school, it seemed like everyone knew what they wanted to do except for me. Or, at least people had a direction/path in life that they were interested in. For me, this isn’t the case.

Growing up I had no clue what my future would hold. It was scary to me that one day I had to work for a living, that I wouldn’t be a kid anymore. This sort of feeling has stuck with me to this day.

Now, being in college, most people have a good idea of what they want to major in. This makes me feel behind, well at least not having a major. For me, its hard to study something that will determine your work for the rest of your life.

I knew from when I was little, a nine to five was something I never wanted. For most of my life my goal has been to just try and be as happy as possible. I find myself trying to hold on to my childhood as much as possible. I love hanging out and messing around with my friends, and knowing that this will be gone someday makes me sad.

Even though thinking about this seems counterproductive, I actually use this as motivation. This pushes me to try and find the job of my dreams. I want to eventually find a line of work/major that I’m so interested in that it doesn’t even feel like work. Hopefully someday I can find the job of my dreams.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.UKMHHkgG3c3v02CJZUtmfwHaDt?pid=Api&rs=1

From my experience, high school is about preparing students for college and other types of further education. Teachers were constantly telling me college is much harder than high school. We were given work that was supposed to prepare us for the college experience, but did it really help?

First, I want to talk about what I think schools do right when preparing students for college. I feel that the homework we got in high school actually helped, even though I hated doing it.

I think that homework teaches a student to work independently. When kids have to do homework they’re on their own, it teaches them how to be independent. It allows students to do their work and problem solve by themselves, without the assistance of a teacher or other students. I felt that this was very beneficial, since you have a ton of independence in college and you have to learn how to manage it. For me, homework started the process of working independently.

Another thing I think high school helped me with is time management. In high school, you have to develop time management skills. Since you get new assignments every day in high school, you have to learn to manage it. From my experience in high school I had to learn time management, otherwise I would fall far behind on homework and other assignments. I believe that learning to overcome this is widely important. For me time management is a big part of college and I’m glad that I started to learn these skills in high school.

For me, the problem in high school is that many students learn different ways. It felt like high school was geared towards individuals that were able to learn in a classroom setting. For me, a classroom setting is very hard to learn from. I found sitting in a classroom was very disengaging, and that I needed to be more involved to learn. I needed something more hands on to learn.

I think this is where high school is very flawed. I think that high school needs to focus more on how students learn. Just because a student fails an assignment doesn’t mean that they aren’t trying. Teachers need to learn and understand the needs of their students. Everyone learns differently, and I feel I would have done much better in high school if teachers tried to adapt more to the students needs.

Overall, I think high schools can do much better when it comes to adapting to students needs. I feel that they should learn about student learning habits and recommend classes to take based on their way of learning.