Spain's Civil Guard uses superheroes to educate kids on Internet risks

Using the popular and enigmatic characters from the movie world of superheroes, along with quite a few Disney characters, the Civil Guard in Spain has begun a new set of workshops in Madrid aimed at informing third and fourth grade children about the dangers of the Internet.

Using a giant TV screen, the first class was held on November 5 at the Nuestra Señora del Carmen school in Madrid.  It began with the words, “You should never give your personal details online without the permission of your parents, or create a profile on the social networks until you reach 14.”

Children tend to be trusting and it is far too easy for the wrong people to take advantage of them online.  All the pupils in the class were familiar with the various apps, like WhatsApp, Skype and YouTube, but most were completely unaware of the basic rules and etiquette of using the Internet and the various social networks.  This was the first of around 6,000 more classes to be held all over Spain during the coming months. 

Arsenio Fernández de Mesa, director general of the Civil Guard told the assembled children, “I bet the majority of you have better smartphones and tablets than your parents, but you still need to be careful,” adding, “There are bad people out there who will try to get to know you through the internet. What we’re about to tell you is so that from now on you will use it properly and nobody will be able to hurt you.”

On the TV screen, the Hulk warns the children,  “It is forbidden to pretend to be somebody else, or record somebody on your phone without their permission and then upload it to the Internet.”

In the classroom, Captain Carlos Igual of the division that investigates crimes against minors is on hand to advise the children.  He told El País, “A teenager is old enough to understand a serious message about online safety, but younger children aren’t.”

“Cartoons are a way to get that message over in a friendly manner, and to help them interiorize what we are trying to say,” he added, explaining that some parents are unaware of how the Internet functions and exactly what their children do online.

Igual said that most parents, and even many teachers, don't really know what Twitter is, for example. While some teachers have already contacted the Civil Guard requesting talks on online safety, the Civil Guard will also be organizing workshops for parents and teachers on the subject, but without the help of the Hulk this time.


Spanish sources:

El País
20 Minutos

Photo credits:
Hulk: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Eneas De Troya
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WhatsappSPY: Spanish man arrested for fake spy app on smartphones

A young Spanish man has been arrested for swindling thousands of euros with a fake spy app for accessing instant messaging conversations on smartphones for free. What victims got was something else entirely.

WhatsappSPY was supposed to be an application to install and use to view conversations from other users in real time. However, the fraud involved calling a phone number for an activation code, which actually subscribed the victim to a premium SMS service.

 

Rumors about the existence of the application had been going around the Internet for some time, saying that using the app, a user could access communications made by any person using a smartphone, with only a few simple steps. 

 

After a complaint was lodged by a social network, it was found that the main channel used to access victims for the fraud was by hacking users' profiles on the social media. 

 

The 23-year-old fraudster gained access to more than 11,000 users' profiles. Through these stolen accounts, mass spam messages were sent out to their contact lists to disseminate the information. All links included in the messages looked similar to a genuine social network, easily fooling people accessing them.

 

Users were automatically redirected to websites to facilitate downloading the program, although apparently once downloaded, the program asked them to introduce a mobile number to purchase an activation code. No activation code was ever received, but the owner of the particular mobile phone number was then subscribed to a premium SMS service, with costs of between €1.45 or €7.26 per call, depending on the operator.

 

Billed over a period of two months, profits to the fraudster could exceed €40,000. Researchers tracked the alleged architect of the fraud, a 23-year-old Spanish national, who was arrested by the National Police on July 20. A search of his home computer and four hard drives is being analyzed by specialists.

 

The operation was carried out by agents of the Technological Research Unit of the Judicial Police Commissioner-General in collaboration with the Police Headquarters of Murcia.

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/354839