Teaching children to spot the trap

SafeLand is an iPad platform that teaches children the basics of cybersecurity. Lessons, videos and minigames, built to be used in class with a teacher, or at home with a parent.

The work

Built at Hack Junction. Tablets were becoming normal in classrooms, so the classroom was where the app went, with the lessons organised in categories a teacher could pick from.

Client: Hack Junction
Date: November 2018
Role: Conception and UI design
Team: With Yerai and Maria

The challenge

Security in a connected world matters to all of us. The threats are everywhere and we are all targets. It is easy to fall for a scam and make a bad decision: a bad website, a malicious app, personal information handed over without thinking about it.

Children are a hard audience to design for. They need the usability and the engagement to be exemplary, and they will not forgive either one. The aim was to strengthen their resilience against these threats through awareness.

What works with kids works with all of us.

The premise of the brief

The lessons

Each topic is introduced in language a child can follow, which means a parent with moderate IT knowledge can follow it too. The same shape every time: what it is, the kinds of it there are, a short video, then the games.

The malware lesson: what malware is, five types of malware as illustrated cards, how it gets installed, an explanatory video and two minigames — **Malware**Virus, spyware, adware, trojan and worms, each one drawn as its own creature.

The phishing lesson: what phishing is, three types of phishing, an explanatory video and two minigames — **Phishing**Emails, identity and spies, which is the topic most likely to reach a child first.

The social media lesson: what social media is, a dos and don'ts pair of cards, an explanatory video and two minigames — **Social media**Written as dos and don'ts, because this one is about behaviour rather than software.

The minigames

At the end of every lesson come games built on that lesson's topic, so what was just explained has to be used before it is forgotten. Each one puts the child on the receiving end of the threat rather than reading about it.

The Will you fall? game: an inbox with an email offering a free PlayStation, and a timer counting down — **Will you fall?**An inbox, a prize that is too good to be true, and a clock. The trap is the whole lesson.

The phishing game: fishing from a boat, with a fish labelled password swimming past — **Phishing game**Catch the fish carrying the information worth stealing, which is how the word got its name.

The Choose the right card game: two spyware cards with different descriptions, a progress bar and three lives — **Choose the right card**Two statements, one true. Progress along the top, three lives on the right.

The same game after a wrong answer: the chosen card outlined in red, with an explanation of the right answer — **Getting it wrong**A wrong answer costs a life and explains itself, so the mistake is where the learning happens.

The galaxy space malware game on its start screen, with viruses floating around a computer — **Galaxy space malware**Identify the type of virus and pick it out as it reaches the computer.

The word puzzle game: a letter grid with the words follow, likes and stalking found, four of seven — **Word puzzle**Find the terms from the social media lesson hidden in the grid.