Little Red - A classic story to understand a current issue -

     

Little Red

    Once upon a time there was a young woman who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother Nini. They get together weekly via Skype. The grandmother lived far away in the suburbs.

     There was nothing that Nini would not have given to the young woman. She also gave her a nickname that suited so well. So she was always called 'Little Red. That was also her profile name when she was online.'

     One day Little Red’s mother said: ‘This is a picture of the cake I will make for grandmother’s birthday. She is not feeling well and this will do her good. Go online and send the picture. Don’t forget to do it before noon, please don’t play online games with strangers or peep into every ones profile. You may forget your duty and then Nini will get nothing.'

     'Sure, I will take great care,' said Little Red.

    Just as Little Red went online, an invitation from someone called “Wolf” pops up in the screen. Little Red accepted as a friend, without knowing what a wicked creature “Wolf” was.

     'Good day, Little Red,' he wrote in the chat.

     'Thank you kindly, Wolf.'

     'Why you are so early chatting, Little Red?'

     'I got a picture of a cake that my mom made to my grandmother's birthday. She is not feeling well lately and this present will make her fell better.'

     'Where does your grandmother live, Little Red?'

     ‘In the suburbs, we use Skype to get together. Her profile name is “Grandma”.  You should contact her and become friends,' replied Little Red.

     Wolf thought to himself: 'What a nice young woman! I wish I knew her username and password to access her profile. Then I would pretend to be “Little Red” and do silly things under her name. I think would be better try to get Nini’s password first. So I better hurry and maybe I can catch them both.'

     Then “Wolf” said: 'Hey Little Red, you should try the coolest game that was release last week. I did it and it was so fun. You should it! Check the attached link I am sending to you link and let me know what do you think.'

     Little Red opened the link and suddenly the screen brought sunbeams through trees and flowers dancing here and there. Little Red ran into the virtual forest looking for more flowers. Whenever she had picked one, she saw a prettier one further on and ran after it. Slowly she got deeper and deeper into the digital forest.

     Meanwhile Wolf searched for Grandma’s profile. When she was found, he send an invitation to be friends.

    Nini accepted and wrote in the chat: 'Who are you?'

  'I am Little Red, I had to change my profile. Thank you for accepting me granny.' Wolf typed back.

     ‘But why I can’t see you in the screen my dear?’ Nini asked.

     ‘My camera is not working. The good news is that I got a pic of the cake mom made for your birthday. I will send it to you as an attachment.'

     'I don’t know how to open attachments,' called out the Nini.

     ‘No worries Grandma, I will help you. Just give me your username and password and I will take care of everything.’ Replied Wolf.

     ‘My dear Little Red, that is easy. Username is our nickname and age: Nini82 and password is our favourite colour and age: Blue82.’

    As soon as Nini finished the sentence Wolf accessed her account and changed the password. He really was a hacker who stole grandmother’s online identity.  The real Nini went offline.

     In order to continue with his plan, Wolf tried to contact Little Red pretending he was granny. He tried to look like the young woman putting on similar clothes, dressing in a cap, laying in bed and closing the curtains.

     Little Red, however, was picking virtual flowers and gathered so many points that she could carry no more. When she remembered her grandmother, run out on the way to the meeting.

    Little Red opened Skype and founded that Grandma was online. When she started the video call Nini’s room was very dark. Little Red requested to open the curtains and when the person at the other end did so, encountered her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking very, very strange.

     'Oh! Grandmother,' she said, 'what big ears you have!'

     'All the better to hear you with, my child,' was the reply.

     ‘Look, what big eyes you have!' she said.

     'All the better to see you with, my dear.'

     'Wow, what large hands you have!'

     'All the better to hug you with.'

     ‘And what a big mouth you have!'

     'I know I look different. Let me tell you my dear girl, that you also look different to me. I will probe that we are the same people, because I remember that your favourite colour is blue.’

     ‘You are right, granny. Isn’t funny that at the age of 13, I still think that blue is the best color in the world.’

     And again, as soon as Wolf heard the girl’s age, he went into the browser and opened her account. He typed the username: LittleRed13 and password: Blue13 and changed the password for a new one. Wolf the hacker, took over Little Red’s account. Sadly the real Little Red went offline.

     Huntsman was Little Red’s friend. He was in the comfort of his home browsing the Internet.

     Minutes later he received a notification on his mobile phone. When he opened found a post from Grandmother’s account. An unusual picture of granny, with a note indicating she was looking for a partner to snowshoeing in the mountain.

     Huntsman noticed that something was wrong. She never posted such a things. He contacted Little Red by phone to talk about the latest post. She recalled that another strange situation also happened to her. Since then she was not able to access Skype.

     ‘Maybe your account was stole because your profile is online. You should contact the app provider and fix the problem.’ Huntsman suggested.

      Little Red called Nini’s home telephone and found out that her identity was also stolen. Then, she helps granny to deal with the situation.

     The app administrator banned Wolf, the hacker, from the site and also reported him to the police.

    Huntsman, Mon and Little Red visited Grandmother on the weekend to celebrate her birthday. They ate the cake that Little Red had brought.

     Huntsman asked them to promise him to create more secure passwords and never, never share their personal information with estrangers.