Univer Kaspersky 2020 - an application to improve the information security of users of the social network VKontakte
The article describes the work of the Univer Kaspersky 2020 application for the social network VKontakte: the target audience, the features of the work, the topics covered.
Entering the building of Kaspersky Lab, the first thing that catches the eye is the statue of an elephant. The statue, so proudly painted in the foyer, is the work of Salvador Dali called the Triumphal Elephant. Like many works by Dali, the sculpture is made in the style of surrealism, and as seen in the photo, the elephant stands on long, slender legs. An expert in the field of information technology, it does not matter even to which particular direction he belongs (programmer, expert in the field of web, system administrator, computer science teacher, etc.), if he is not familiar with the basics of information security with something similar to this elephant: for all its solidity and thoroughness, its entire reputation (both business and personal) may collapse, all its documentation will disappear, it may itself become a victim - of any fraudster blocking his data. A triumphant IT elephant on fragile legs is always vulnerable to being given a pig as a malware.
Fig. 1. A triumphal elephant in the office of Kaspersky Lab (author: Salvador Dali)
The modern education system, both secondary and higher, does not pay enough attention to information security issues. The only exceptions are those who deliberately made the security of IT systems their specialty. But there are few. And if the “narrow” specialists in the field of information security (as, by the way, those who oppose them) can be likened to high-class athletes, then everyone needs to engage in regular physical education, in this case, understanding the basics of IT security. data on the computer and gadgets, and to save their nerves.
')
Kaspersky Lab has always been generous to share its knowledge: at one time there were cycles of webinars that took place earlier on topics relevant to security, and an online course on Actual Computer Security Threats has been announced. And here is one of the latest projects - Univer Kaspersky 2020, a free application that works on the social network VKontakte.
The Univer 2000 application is a training course that addresses many issues of information security, and those problems in the field of computer science (and sometimes psychology) that are at the intersection with computer security problems. A simplified diagram of the curriculum is shown in Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Simplified curriculum layout
Completing tasks, successfully passing testing after each topic and social missions (repost to your wall of information with a link to the material of the Kaspersky Lab blog) involves the accumulation of points. Points can be exchanged for real prizes, and quite interesting ones: these are portable hard drives and other valuable prizes. A separate block of "gifts" is made by the company's products: antiviruses with a license for a year (for a certain percentage of those who received this prize, this is the first unhealthy version of proprietary software). Points can also be exchanged for a two-hour internship at the company's office, a tour of Kaspersky Lab, or for a personal meeting with the company's founder and CEO, Evgeny Kaspersky.
The name of the application, in which the word Univer appears, suggests that there must be students in it. Let's try to describe the categories of users that make up the potential target audience of the application.
Students As already mentioned, the application is designed for VKontakte users, - the social network which is the most popular among students. Students who have worked in good faith at the Kaspersky University course can decide on the topics of term papers in the field of information technology as well as in the field of psychology and pedagogy. A significant part of the prizes of the application, designed for active youth.
Parents . Much of the material is designed for parents. In order for them to know how to secure their children on the web. And so that they can reduce the level of threats to their elderly parents. The issues of cyberbullying, social engineering are the minimum information literacy that every parent must master. Familiarity with the same analytics, which sites are popular with children, can be very surprising parents. What to do with it, what software to use to reduce risks, what problems cannot be solved by any software or hardware - discussed in the Univers course.
Schoolchildren . Being one of the most active Internet users (and not high school students at the same time, and the most trusting users), children are potential victims for those whose goal is to attack other people's systems or experiments in social engineering. Consideration of such issues as possible threats during computer games, which appear from where you don’t expect them, security when working in social networks, along with the game style of building the Kaspersky University application, which implies a competitive accumulation of points and a real opportunity to bypass the “students” virtual, and real - those reasons that can not "hook" schoolchildren, which interest in the field of IT is unusually high (and, unfortunately, not satisfied at the proper level in the framework of ordinary lessons). In addition, schoolchildren get an excellent reason, staying at the computer to declare that they are not just sitting on Vkontakte, but are increasing their level of information literacy.
Users of smartphones, gadgets and other smart devices . Users of smartphones and popular gadgets will receive valuable information on the protection of their devices, actions in case of their loss. The material is structured so that security issues are considered for users of Android and other common operating systems gadgets. A separate direction, which is difficult to pass by, is the Internet of things: smart TVs, refrigerators with Internet access, and what all this threatens for an unsuspecting buyer.
The question arises - why does Kaspersky Lab need this? It is difficult to give a definite answer. It can be suggested that this is at the same time a social, educational and advertising project, a way to popularize the blog and the company's products. In any case, this is the rare case when there are no losers. Everyone wins in his own way.
A fair assessment of the application involves not only a description of its merits, but also those characteristics that can be improved. With all the merits of Kaspersky’s Universit, you should say that there are periods of “idle” applications caused by server failure (when you try to enter the application, a message is displayed that input is not yet possible, since the rector pushes a fiery speech to students on the lawn) and that possible waiting for individual groups of prizes. Also noteworthy is the high-quality work of the official support service for the application: all the revealed comments in the application’s work, about which I informed, were promptly corrected.
Summarizing, it can be argued that Kaspersky Univer 2020 is a successful application that organically combines high-quality content from leading experts in the field of information security with elements of training in a game-like manner with the opportunity to receive valuable prizes. The project itself can be considered as one of the most successful ways to promote knowledge on the Internet, a step towards intellectualization of the social network VKontakte, and provided similar steps from other IT companies in the post-Soviet space, able to continue the path that does not grow to improve the information culture of users.
Photo from the personal archive of the author
Entering the building of Kaspersky Lab, the first thing that catches the eye is the statue of an elephant. The statue, so proudly painted in the foyer, is the work of Salvador Dali called the Triumphal Elephant. Like many works by Dali, the sculpture is made in the style of surrealism, and as seen in the photo, the elephant stands on long, slender legs. An expert in the field of information technology, it does not matter even to which particular direction he belongs (programmer, expert in the field of web, system administrator, computer science teacher, etc.), if he is not familiar with the basics of information security with something similar to this elephant: for all its solidity and thoroughness, its entire reputation (both business and personal) may collapse, all its documentation will disappear, it may itself become a victim - of any fraudster blocking his data. A triumphant IT elephant on fragile legs is always vulnerable to being given a pig as a malware.
Fig. 1. A triumphal elephant in the office of Kaspersky Lab (author: Salvador Dali)
The modern education system, both secondary and higher, does not pay enough attention to information security issues. The only exceptions are those who deliberately made the security of IT systems their specialty. But there are few. And if the “narrow” specialists in the field of information security (as, by the way, those who oppose them) can be likened to high-class athletes, then everyone needs to engage in regular physical education, in this case, understanding the basics of IT security. data on the computer and gadgets, and to save their nerves.
')
Kaspersky Lab has always been generous to share its knowledge: at one time there were cycles of webinars that took place earlier on topics relevant to security, and an online course on Actual Computer Security Threats has been announced. And here is one of the latest projects - Univer Kaspersky 2020, a free application that works on the social network VKontakte.
The Univer 2000 application is a training course that addresses many issues of information security, and those problems in the field of computer science (and sometimes psychology) that are at the intersection with computer security problems. A simplified diagram of the curriculum is shown in Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Simplified curriculum layout
Completing tasks, successfully passing testing after each topic and social missions (repost to your wall of information with a link to the material of the Kaspersky Lab blog) involves the accumulation of points. Points can be exchanged for real prizes, and quite interesting ones: these are portable hard drives and other valuable prizes. A separate block of "gifts" is made by the company's products: antiviruses with a license for a year (for a certain percentage of those who received this prize, this is the first unhealthy version of proprietary software). Points can also be exchanged for a two-hour internship at the company's office, a tour of Kaspersky Lab, or for a personal meeting with the company's founder and CEO, Evgeny Kaspersky.
The name of the application, in which the word Univer appears, suggests that there must be students in it. Let's try to describe the categories of users that make up the potential target audience of the application.
Students As already mentioned, the application is designed for VKontakte users, - the social network which is the most popular among students. Students who have worked in good faith at the Kaspersky University course can decide on the topics of term papers in the field of information technology as well as in the field of psychology and pedagogy. A significant part of the prizes of the application, designed for active youth.
Parents . Much of the material is designed for parents. In order for them to know how to secure their children on the web. And so that they can reduce the level of threats to their elderly parents. The issues of cyberbullying, social engineering are the minimum information literacy that every parent must master. Familiarity with the same analytics, which sites are popular with children, can be very surprising parents. What to do with it, what software to use to reduce risks, what problems cannot be solved by any software or hardware - discussed in the Univers course.
Schoolchildren . Being one of the most active Internet users (and not high school students at the same time, and the most trusting users), children are potential victims for those whose goal is to attack other people's systems or experiments in social engineering. Consideration of such issues as possible threats during computer games, which appear from where you don’t expect them, security when working in social networks, along with the game style of building the Kaspersky University application, which implies a competitive accumulation of points and a real opportunity to bypass the “students” virtual, and real - those reasons that can not "hook" schoolchildren, which interest in the field of IT is unusually high (and, unfortunately, not satisfied at the proper level in the framework of ordinary lessons). In addition, schoolchildren get an excellent reason, staying at the computer to declare that they are not just sitting on Vkontakte, but are increasing their level of information literacy.
Users of smartphones, gadgets and other smart devices . Users of smartphones and popular gadgets will receive valuable information on the protection of their devices, actions in case of their loss. The material is structured so that security issues are considered for users of Android and other common operating systems gadgets. A separate direction, which is difficult to pass by, is the Internet of things: smart TVs, refrigerators with Internet access, and what all this threatens for an unsuspecting buyer.
The question arises - why does Kaspersky Lab need this? It is difficult to give a definite answer. It can be suggested that this is at the same time a social, educational and advertising project, a way to popularize the blog and the company's products. In any case, this is the rare case when there are no losers. Everyone wins in his own way.
A fair assessment of the application involves not only a description of its merits, but also those characteristics that can be improved. With all the merits of Kaspersky’s Universit, you should say that there are periods of “idle” applications caused by server failure (when you try to enter the application, a message is displayed that input is not yet possible, since the rector pushes a fiery speech to students on the lawn) and that possible waiting for individual groups of prizes. Also noteworthy is the high-quality work of the official support service for the application: all the revealed comments in the application’s work, about which I informed, were promptly corrected.
Summarizing, it can be argued that Kaspersky Univer 2020 is a successful application that organically combines high-quality content from leading experts in the field of information security with elements of training in a game-like manner with the opportunity to receive valuable prizes. The project itself can be considered as one of the most successful ways to promote knowledge on the Internet, a step towards intellectualization of the social network VKontakte, and provided similar steps from other IT companies in the post-Soviet space, able to continue the path that does not grow to improve the information culture of users.
Photo from the personal archive of the author
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/367565/
All Articles