Cybersecurity Workbook For 10th Grade

Why This Matters

Your digital footprint is the trail of information you leave when you use the internet - posts, likes, search history, photos, and even the websites you visit. This chapter helps you see that these traces form a picture of who you are online. That picture can influence college admissions, job offers, friendships, and how people treat you. For example, a college recruiter might search your name and find a decade-old social post or a public photo album; what they find can change their impression in under a minute.

Understanding your digital footprint connects to your larger journey of learning online responsibility and protecting your digital identity. By knowing exactly how footprints are created, you can make choices that keep your reputation intact and avoid surprises later. We’ll use a real tool - a Google search of your name - and concrete numbers (track at least 10 items) to map what people can see about you.

Skill Builder

Activity: Map and Manage Your Public Digital Footprint (time: about 30-45 minutes)

Materials: a device with internet access, a notebook or document to record findings, and a pen.

Steps:

1. Search yourself. Open a private browser window and search your full name in Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. Note the first 10 results (links, images, or profiles).

2. Record each result. For every result, write: (a) URL, (b) type (social, image, news, forum), (c) public or behind login, and (d) potential impact (low, medium, high). Use a simple table or list.

3. Check two accounts. Visit the public profiles of your three most-used social platforms (for example, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X). Look at what a stranger sees without sending a friend request.

4. Remove or change one item. Pick one result you can control (an old post, a public photo, or a tag). Either delete it, change its visibility, or edit the content to reduce risk. Record what you changed and why.

5. Re-run the search. Repeat step 1 and note any changes in the first 10 results. Did the result you changed disappear or move lower?

Worked example:

> Example: Maria Lopez searches "Maria Lopez Seattle". First 10 results: 1) LinkedIn (profile, public, medium), 2) Instagram (public, image, medium), 3) high school sports article (news, public, high), 4) tagged photo on friend’s account (image, public, medium), 5) old blog (behind login), 6-10) four other public school pages and two image results. Maria deletes a tagged photo, makes her Instagram private, and edits her LinkedIn headline. After re-search, the tagged photo result no longer appears in the first 10.

What good looks like:

• You located and recorded at least 10 distinct search results for your name.
• You classified each result and identified at least one high-impact public item.
• You successfully changed or removed one public item and confirmed a measurable change in search results.

Going Deeper

• Search Variations: Try searching with your nickname, email address, and phone number. These different queries can reveal different results. Use this when applying to colleges to anticipate what others might find.
• Third-Party Tools: Use a free reputation checker like Social Searcher or Google Alerts to monitor future mentions. Set one alert for your full name and one for your email.
• Context Variations: Adapt the exercise for job searches by repeating it on LinkedIn and Glassdoor; for college prep, include searches for your username and gaming handles.

How to adapt:

• For privacy-focused adjustment: focus on changing privacy settings across five platforms and record exact steps (e.g., Instagram -> Settings -> Privacy -> Account Privacy: Private).
• For professional reputation: emphasize LinkedIn optimization (profile photo, headline, 3-sentence summary) and remove casual images from public view.

Self-Check

1. Did you find at least 10 public results for your name across search engines?

__________

__________

__________

2. Were you able to identify and change or remove at least one high-impact item?

__________

__________

__________

3. Can you list three places where someone can find information about you online (specific URLs or platforms)?

__________

__________

__________

4. Do you have a plan to monitor your digital footprint regularly (tool and frequency)?

__________

__________

__________

Criteria for success:

• You can point to 10 documented search results and classify their type and impact....