Cybersecurity Workbook For 9th Grade

Why This Matters

Your digital footprint is the trail you leave online: posts, likes, photos, search history, and even where you click. Those traces shape how others-or automated systems-see you. Colleges, employers, and friends can form opinions based on just a few public items. For example, a college admissions officer might spot a public party photo or a heated comment and use it when deciding whether to accept you. That’s why understanding how footprints form helps you manage your online identity.

This chapter gives you tools to find, measure, and change parts of your footprint. You’ll use a simple search exercise, reflect on specific results, and practice adjusting privacy settings on two named platforms (Instagram and Google). These actions connect directly to your future: a clean, thoughtful digital footprint can open doors; a careless one can close them.

Skill Builder

Activity: Audit and Improve One Week of Your Digital Footprint

Materials: computer or smartphone, browser, your Instagram account, access to Google account settings.

Expected outcome: You will find at least three public items tied to your name or username, decide whether to remove or keep each, and change two privacy settings.

Steps:

1. Open an incognito/private browser window. Search your full name in quotation marks (for example: "Alex Morgan") and your most used username (for example: "alex123"). Note the first 10 results.

2. From the results, identify three items you can control (a public post, a profile, or a comment). Record the URL and why it matters (reputation, privacy, or misrepresentation).

3. Log into Instagram. Find one public photo or comment you can remove or change. If you remove it, save a screenshot before deleting (for your log).

4. Open your Google account, go to Data & privacy > Web & App Activity. Turn off Web & App Activity for one week. Note the date and time you changed it.

5. Create a 1-paragraph reasoning for each change: keep, delete, or hide. Use facts: date, who can see it, and how it affects your future goals (college or job).

6. Save your audit as a short checklist in a note or document.

Worked example:

> Search: "Jordan Lee" and username "jord_lee99"

> Found: public Instagram photo (URL...), school club announcement (URL...), and a forum comment (URL...)

> Action: Removed the Instagram photo (screenshot saved), requested forum comment deletion, turned off Google Web & App Activity at 3:15 PM on 04/01/2026. Reasons: photo showed underage drinking (delete), school club announcement is fine (keep), forum comment used harsh language (hide/remove).

What good looks like:

• You listed 10 search results and documented 3 controllable items with URLs.
• You removed or edited at least one public post and documented the change.
• You changed Google Web & App Activity and recorded the date/time.
• You wrote a 1-paragraph reason for each action tying it to a specific future goal (e.g., college application).

Going Deeper

• Search Expansion: Use three variations of your name (full name, nickname, and common misspelling). This finds more footprints. Example: full name "Samantha Ortiz", nickname "Sam Ortiz", misspelling "Samantha Ortiz".
• Platform Focus: Concentrate on a single platform for a deeper fix. For Instagram, review last 50 posts and archive or delete 3 problematic ones. For Twitter/X, check last 100 replies for tone.
• Privacy Tooling: Use Google’s "Remove Outdated Content" tool for old pages, or a site-specific privacy form (name the site). For example, request removal from an old classmates’ blog via its contact form and record the response within 14 days.

Adaptations:

• For college-bound students: emphasize posts from the last 3 years and record connections to intended major or extracurriculars.
• For job-seekers (part-time jobs): focus on professional photos and public comments about employers.
• For privacy-first users: schedule monthly audits and enable two-factor authentication on Instagram and Google.

Self-Check

1. Did I find and record at least 10 search results for my name and username?

______________

______________

______________

2. Did I identify three controllable items and record each URL with a reason to keep, delete, or hide?

______________

______________

______________

3. Did I change one privacy setting (e.g., Google Web & App Activity) and record the date/time?

______________

______________

______________

4....