Breaking Barriers: the challenge with OSINT techniques at Milan Digital Week
The Casa di Quartiere in Via Lessona, a historic meeting place for the citizens of the Quarto Oggiaro district in Milan, hosted the Milanese challenge of the Breaking Barriers: beyond barriers, STEM for all. Promoted by Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS with the support of Google.org, the event is part of the Milan Digital Week programme. Around 110 secondary school students took part in an Osint Challenge entitled CyberGuardians, on the theme of preventing online bullying. The students attend the Leone XIII scientific high school, the Schiaparelli-Gramsci Institute and the Galdus vocational school (second, third and fourth years).
After an introduction by project coordinator Marta Pietrelli, trainer Marilisa Del Vecchio explained the standard procedures for dealing with cyberbullying cases and provided some basic information on the topic of IT security. ‘Cybersecurity must be a part of most of our lives. Attacks involve essential services such as hospitals but also the business world. Let's not forget that the victims are often citizens, who are tricked into revealing their confidential data through devious techniques that elicit emotional reactions.’ Marilisa then illustrated the challenge of the day: tracking down a cyberbully using the Osint technique, which makes use of data and news of public interest from open sources (search engines, social accounts, online forums, blogs, the dark web, online directories, public registers, academic research, technical data). Using Google Dorks searches, the young people, divided into teams, are asked to identify who is hiding behind the fake Instagram account @laveritàchebruciadentro, which publishes offensive stories and posts about students at a school, spreading confidential information. “You will have to conduct your analysis based on the clues that emerge from the posted content, in two hours, and organise the information gathered in a report. The use of artificial intelligence is prohibited”.
We are in Municipio 8, one of Milan's nine municipal districts, which extends from the city centre to the north-west and has a population of almost 200,000 residents. Representing the institutions was Veruska Eugenia Mandelli, councillor for Municipio 8. "We all use social media passively, scrolling through content while waiting for things to happen in our daily lives. But it is quite different to be informed and also use the internet as a source of information about what is happening in the world. On days like this, there are people who document current events in war zones and broadcast them to the world, becoming protagonists of their time. It is essential that you young people are aware of this. Today, we are raising awareness of the limits and potential of the internet, teaching techniques to increase security and combat dangerous phenomena such as cyberbullying. The venue chosen, not by chance, is the Casa di Quartiere, one of the centres of the Remid@ project, which supports all citizens in accessing digital services, as well as being a key meeting place for residents."
Of particular interest were the insights provided by Luisa Massaro, Chief Commissioner of the State Police, who illustrated her institution's awareness-raising activities, which place great emphasis on the importance of using the right words, dialogue with role models, and empathy, which is often lacking behind the screen.
How did the challenge go? In first place was a special team, demonstrating that young people know how to open their hearts and show a great sense of inclusion and solidarity. Competing (and winning) with the Anti-Bullying Team, in addition to the students of Schiaparelli-Gramsci, was a young man who regularly attends the Casa di Quartiere in Via Lissona, Omar.
The results of the challenge
1st place: Anti-Bullying Team from the Schiaparelli-Gramsci Institute (class 2C AFM), composed of Giuseppe Vaccaro, Hu Zhiyu, Dayana Vasquez and Omar Farathi
2nd place: Osint 11 from the Schiaparelli-Gramsci Institute (class 2C AFM), composed of Daniel Nicoletti, Macovei Vitali, India Sing and Daniele Rizzo.
3rd place: I Pietro team from the Galdus Institute (4A), composed of Michelle Pierri, Valentina De Luca, Federico Cova and Davide Di Natale.
