Managing a Malware Attack

Introduce learners to best practices for successfully managing and navigating a malware attack

About This Module

This curriculum module is based on takeaways from series four of NYC Digital Safety training videos. You may use this module by:

  • Including it in your pre-existing public workshops
  • Combining it with other NYC Digital Safety modules to make a longer data-privacy focused workshop
  • Sharing the handout with library users at various service points

Downloadable presentation slides, a facilitation guide, and a handout can be found below.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

  • Identify different kinds of malware
  • Describe the ways in which malware attacks work
  • Identify approaches for managing a malware attack

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is also included in the downloadable facilitation guide below. You are welcome to use any and all of this, or adapt it as you see fit.

This module will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Introduction and welcome

Greet learners and share the plan for this module

Defining malware

Review this definition of malware and note that some forms of malware are more aggressive than others

Discussion: Malware examples and effects

Ask your learners what malware can do and see what examples or ideas they have to share.
Consider getting discussion going by sharing a personal or real-world example of a malware attack

More aggressive types of malware

Review the examples and types listed on these slides and pause to see if anyone has any other examples to share or experiences with any of the things listed

The signs of a malware infection

Review the different signs of malware listed here and pause to see if anyone has experienced any of these things before during a malware attack. If you have a personal example that you feel comfortable sharing, feel free to include it here

What to do during and after a malware attack

Review the list of strategies here and see if anyone has any questions or needs any clarification about the steps listed

Wrap up, final tips, and final questions

Review the final suggestions and introduce the resources listed. If you have extra time, consider giving your learners longer to explore the links listed in the resources. See if there are any final questions

Next Steps

Download the materials below for use in your workshop or at service points throughout your library.

If you plan to create a longer privacy-focused workshop using these materials, here is a link to Google slides. Feel free to make a copy if you’d like to add these slides to any other deck.

And please let us know how it went! Use this form to share your feedback on this module. We’d love to hear from you.

Dealing with Malware and Viruses

Introduce learners to best practices for identifying, avoiding, and dealing with malware and various kinds of viruses

About This Module

This curriculum module is based on takeaways from series four of NYC Digital Safety training videos. You may use this module by:

  • Including it in your pre-existing public workshops
  • Combining it with other NYC Digital Safety modules to make a longer data-privacy focused workshop
  • Sharing the handout with library users at various service points

Downloadable presentation slides, a facilitation guide, and a handout can be found below.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

    • Distinguish between malware and viruses
    • Describe the ways in which malware and viruses can infect a device
    • Identify approaches for preventing and handling malware and viruses that are on a device

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is also included in the downloadable facilitation guide below. You are welcome to use any and all of this, or adapt it as you see fit.

This module will take approximately 50 minutes to complete.

Introduction and welcome

Greet learners and review the plan for this lesson

Defining malware and viruses

Review these definitions and pause here for any questions. Make sure everyone is clear on the distinctions between these two

Discussion: Examples of viruses

Ask your learners to share examples of viruses they have seen or heard about, and feel free to contribute your own examples here as well

Malware and viruses

Review the examples and types listed on these slides and pause to see if anyone has any other examples to share or experiences with any of the things listed

The signs of a malware infection

Review the different signs of malware and viruses listed here and pause to see if anyone has experienced any of these things before during a malware or virus infection. If you have a personal example that you feel comfortable sharing, feel free to include it here

Ways to deal with a malware or virus infection

Review the list of strategies here and see if anyone has any questions or needs any clarification about the steps listed

Wrap up, final tips, and final questions

Review the final suggestions and introduce the resources listed. If you have extra time, consider giving your learners longer to explore the links listed in the resources. See if there are any final questions

Next Steps

Download the materials below for use in your workshop or at service points throughout your library.

If you plan to create a longer privacy-focused workshop using these materials, here is a link to Google slides. Feel free to make a copy if you’d like to add these slides to any other deck.

And please let us know how it went! Use this form to share your feedback on this module. We’d love to hear from you.

Analyzing A URL

Equip learners with the skills they need to analyze URLs and recognize signs of risky URLs

About This Module

This curriculum module is based on takeaways from series four of NYC Digital Safety training videos. You may use this module by:

  • Including it in your pre-existing public workshops
  • Combining it with other NYC Digital Safety modules to make a longer data-privacy focused workshop
  • Sharing the handout with library users at various service points

Downloadable presentation slides, a facilitation guide, and a handout can be found below. The handout from this module has been translated into Chinese, Haitian-Creole, Russian, and Spanish.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

    • Describe different parts of a URL
    • Use best practices for analyzing a URL
    • Identify signs of unsafe URLs

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is also included in the downloadable facilitation guide below. You are welcome to use any and all of this, or adapt it as you see fit.

This module will take approximately 45 to 50 minutes to complete.

Introduction and welcome

Greet learners and share the plan for today’s module

Risks of malicious URLs

Go through this list of potential risks and pause to see if anyone has anything else to add

Parts of a URL

Go through each highlighted portion of the URL and pause at the end to any questions

Signs of a risky URL

Go through this list of signs of a malicious URL and pause to see if anyone has anything to add or a question

Activity: Analyzing a URL

Put your learners into small groups or pairs. Show them the two different examples (take about 5 minutes for each). Encourage them to discuss their thoughts and write down observations. Bring everyone together to discuss what they have seen. If you have additional time and want to extend the module, you can have learners review the guided handout together to get additional practice with analyzing URLs

Activity wrap-up

Review the answers to the previous activity on this slide and make note of anything your learners didn’t cover or additional things they noticed

Tactics used by scammers

Go over the terms and examples on these two slides. Pause to see if anyone has anything else to add

Avoiding risky URLs

Review the suggestions listed on this slide and pause to see if anyone has any additional items to add to the list

Wrap up, final tips, and final questions

Review the final tips and resources listed here. If you have extra time, consider having learners visit some of the listed resources to explore them. Leave time for any final questions or concluding thoughts

Next Steps

Download the materials below for use in your workshop or at service points throughout your library.

If you plan to create a longer privacy-focused workshop using these materials, here is a link to Google slides. Feel free to make a copy if you’d like to add these slides to any other deck.

And please let us know how it went! Use this form to share your feedback on this module. We’d love to hear from you.