Challenge & further assistance

Let's get to work!

You are now familiar with the most important steps you yourself can take to ensure that you can work securely and reliably, everywhere and at all times. Now it's time to test how well you can put this into practice!

On this page, you will find two fun and educational ‘challenges’ you and your colleagues can take on together. They will allow you to experience for yourself how well you already perform when it comes to certain aspects of working securely and reliably.

Good luck!


 

Challenge #1: Locking your computer screen

Goal: to learn that you must always lock your computer screen if you will be away from your computer.

Participants: there is no maximum number of participants for this challenge.

Execution: In this challenge, you and your colleagues will work on figuring out within one week how often certain colleagues fail to lock their computer screen before walking away from their computer. To carry out this challenge, you should complete the following steps:

  1. Create a silly email address (e.g. cake@[yourschool.nl]).
     
  2. Communicate the rules to all participating employees:

- For one week, we will look at how often our colleagues lock their computer screens (or fail to do so).

- If you see that a colleague's computer screen is not locked and the colleague is away from their computer, open the colleague's email inbox and send an email from it with the subject ‘Cake!’ to the colleague with the email address cake@[yourschool.nl] in CC.

- In this way, each time an email with the subject ‘Cake’ has been sent, both the colleague and the manager of the email address cake@[yourschool.nl] will see it. Because the colleague will also receive an email, they will immediately become aware of their own behaviour with respect to locking the computer screen.

- At the end of the week, the manager of the email address cake@[yourschool.nl] will print out all of the emails received. The ranking of colleagues in terms of who has locked their computer screen the most frequently and who has done so the least frequently can immediately be seen.

- The colleague from whose email inbox the most emails have been sent will treat everyone else to cake.

  1. Agree a start date and let the challenge begin!

 


 

Challenge #2: Getting hold of passwords

Goal: to become aware of how easily people may divulge privacy-sensitive data such as passwords both online and offline.

Participants: there is no maximum number of participants for this challenge.

Execution: In this challenge, you will get to work on determining within one week how quickly your colleagues will reveal one of their passwords. To carry out this challenge, you should complete the following steps:

  1. Make sure you only carry out this challenge with internal colleagues who definitely have access to the systems which are part of this challenge.
     
  2. Agree beforehand for which systems you will try to get hold of each other's passwords and communicate this clearly to each other.
     
  3. Communicate the rules to all participating employees:

- For an entire week, we will try to get hold of each other's passwords for one of the previously communicated systems.

- You can try to get hold of each other's passwords in various ways, but not by actually hacking into one of the computers of the participants with the help of software.

- Once you have got hold of a password, as proof, make a screenshot of the relevant application that clearly shows you have logged on to your colleague's account. Send this screen shot along with the corresponding explanation to [...@...]. If you have access to a colleague's password before the challenge starts, you can contribute that too. But in that case, too, you must inform your colleague immediately so that the password can be changed.

- Log off immediately, notify your colleague and ask them to change their password right away.

  1. At the end of the week, collect all of the results from the designated email inbox. The person who has succeeded in getting hold of the most passwords will win a pre-determined prize.
     

 

All quick wins related to the principle 'Work securely and reliably, at all times and everywhere' can be found in a handy list below:

 

Software is up to date: Make sure all software installed on your personal equipment is always up to date. Most operating systems and applications give you the option to enable automatic updates.


Webcam cover: You can pick up a free webcam cover for your webcams at [add contact details].


Privacy film: You can pick up free privacy film for your laptop screen at [add contact details].


Encryption software: We use the encryption software [add name of software] at our school. You can download and install this software for free via [add software location]. Installation instructions can be found at [add location of instructions].


Strong passwords: For each application, make sure you use long passwords that include many different symbols. You can use a password manager for this; at our school we use the software [add name of software]. You can download and install this software for free via [add software location]. Installation instructions can be found at [add location of instructions].


VPN software: we use the VPN software [add name of software] at our school. You can download and install this software for free via [add software location]. Installation instructions can be found at [add location of instructions].


Any other questions? If you have any other questions about working securely and reliably, either at our locations or at home, please contact [add contact details].