Tuesday, May 9, 2017

WECDSBcodes Challenge 4: Procedural Writing Smash Up

Students will design a path, describe it using procedural writing prompts and then measure the path taken using standard and non-standard units of measure.


Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants

I have had the pleasure to sit in on some of the hangouts hosted by Exploring By The Seat of Your Pants.  As stated on their website, "The primary goal of Exploring By the Seat Of Your Pants is to knockdown classroom walls and take students anywhere in the world, never having to leave their desks.  We aim to accomplish this by connecting students with exciting guest speakers and virtual field trips from around the world.  Our focus is providing lessons related to science, adventure and conversation, but won't be limited to these areas!"

There are still camera spots available for some of their May events, you can check them out below:




The Turtle Hospital
May 15th @ 11:00am EST
Camera Spots Remaining: 5
The Turtle Hospital opened its doors 1986 with four main goals: 1) rehab injured sea turtles and return them to their natural habitat, 2) educate the public through outreach programs and visit local schools, 3) conduct and assist with research aiding to sea turtles and 4) work toward environmental legislation making the beaches and water safe and clean for sea turtles.
YouTube Live Link: 

Len Vanderstar: Summits of Canada Expedition
May 18th @ 1:00pm EST
Camera Spots Remaining: 5
Len is an experienced adventurer and expedition coordinator with a solid safety track record. Barbeau Peak, Nunavut will be the last Canadian highpoint in the Summits of Canada quest by Len, scheduled for June 16 -29, 2017. To date, no Canadian has reached each provincial and territorial high point. Completing Canada's highpoints in 2017 times perfectly with Canada's 150th celebration, and we wish to take advantage of this unique year in further promoting Canada's diverse geography, its people and culture.
David Makepeace: Eclipse Guy
May 30th @ 1:00pm EST
Camera Spots Remaining: 5

David has witnessed 22 eclipses in 15 countries on 7 continents and he's continuously planning exotic adventures to strange and wonderful places on the Earth to stand in the shadow of the Moon! Since 1991, he has chased eclipses of all kinds to every corner of the globe – from India to Brazil, Antarctica to Libya, Mexico to China. For millions upon millions of people the eclipse in America on August 21, 2017, will be the best chance to see a Total Eclipse of the Sun in this lifetime. 


Monday, May 8, 2017

Increasing Your Digital Responsibility - Protect Yourself

Increase Your Digital Responsibility - Protect Yourself

Attempts from Hackers to steal your private information are getting more and more aggressive all the time.  Our IT Department filters out thousands of email a day containing malicious files, spam, and other unwanted garbage.

No matter how good our filter is some email gets through that you need to be on the look out for.  More than 70% of emails sent are spam.



4 Main types of attacks:

1:  The Imposter: Spoofing

These messages are designed to look legitimate and almost identical to the real thing.  There are some very easy tips to identifying the fakes! Look below in "What Can I do?"

For more information click here:

2:  The Sharp Shooter: Spear Phishing

Phishing attacks and spear phishing have much in common, including the shared goal of manipulating victims into exposing sensitive information. Spear phishing attacks differ from typical phishing attacks in that they are more targeted and personalized in order to increase chances of fooling recipients. Attackers will gather publicly available information on targets prior to launching a spear phishing attack and will use those personal details to impersonate targets’ friends, relatives, coworkers or other trusted contacts.

For more information click here:

3:   The Scorch the Earther: Generic Phishing

Very general messages containing poor grammar and no real content. These are sent out through mass emailing.  Most of these are filter but they can sneak through. They may not fool you but they can fool our younger users!

For more information click here:

4:  Google Docs:

Hackers are now trying to send emails asking you to open a shared google doc. When users open the shared doc they are asked to accept the permissions.  The doc is not actually a google doc at all.  The unknowing user just gave away access to your contacts and now many other bad emails will be sent from your account.  Google has since closed this hole and added another security layer.
Click HERE:

How do you protect yourself?  Verify the address of the person sharing with you?  Do you know them?Is it a MyTool2Go.ca account?  When you share a doc with someone you don't need to accept any permissions.  Just close the tab and delete the email!

WHAT CAN I DO?

At the very minimum when dealing with unsolicited email or email from financial institutions look at the URL (link) to see where you are being pointed. Just put your mouse cursor on the link the email wants you to click on and you will see the link in the bottom left of the screen.  You can practice on any link on this blog!  

Be wary if the link does NOT have https:// or include the company name in the FIRST domain.

For example https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services or https://drive.google.com/drive

TIP: When accessing financial institutions access them using your own proven link.  

David Petro has an informative slide show from his FAKE NEWS presentation on April 28th that is also a great resource to protect yourself and spot these attacks and more!


Take the Google Security Checkup!

https://myaccount.google.com/secureaccount

This will quickly walk you through all the permissions you have granted outside software and websites to use.  You can remove access and add them back later if necessary.  If you don't recognize the site REMOVE it!  You can also remove access from any Computer you may have used in the past and accidently allowed it to save your information.


Complete this check up with both your personal Gmail account and your MyTools2go.ca  account.

If you do have questions do not be hesitate to contact the IT Department for assistance!






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