To Point 1)

A cracked password can lead to identity theft on the Internet. This results in the following possible consequences.

The thieves can communicate in the name of the robbed person on social media or via email. This can result in damage to reputation (e.g. insulting people or other inappropriate posts) or even criminal acts (threats of violence, announcement of criminal acts).

In the area of Internet shopping, the thieves can order at the expense of the robbed persons and thus cause financial damage.

To Point 3)

a)Computers almost instantly crack all the passwords from point 2.

b)Following criteria influence the security of a password

a)The length of the password

b)Types of characters used (just numbers, letters, special characters)

c)The way characters are composed

In general, it is hard to describe when a password is secure

To give an example, the password „11111111“ would be cracked instantly, while the password „ 11111111 11111111 11111111“ needs 83 quintillion years to be cracked.

Possible characteristics are

• 12 Characters
• Use numbers, letters and special characters

The security of a password also depends also on personal factors as mental capabilities as retentiveness, the ability of using mnemonics but also on the level of security needed for a password.

The topic cybersecurity can should be integrated in early secondary technology education. Since at least email communication and the use of social media starts in lower secondary education (average between twelve and thirteen years)  task one connects the topic cybersecurity to the student’s personal life and should illustrate consequences for careless password selection.

Task two and three intends to let the students develop the capability of choosing optimal passwords for their own use. It is important to integrate a reflection phase in task three where the own characteristics for a good password are tested. Students should create a password by their own critics, tests its strength and try to memorize it and after this phase optimizing their critics.

It is important that the teacher mentions that there is not a perfect password and the choice of a password depends on personal factors as mentioned above.

Afterwards additional security measures while using the web should be discussed: (using secure connections, don’t visit fringe websites, see https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/ “other ways to protect yourself online”)