SAFE BY DESIGN · EPISODE 28

The Account We Had to Secure

When an account starts doing things its owner didn't do, the instinct is to panic or to blame. Neither helps. A short, calm list does.

Arjun climbed into the back seat at the school gate on Friday looking puzzled rather than upset, which Riya had learned to pay attention to.

“Kabir says I sent him a link,” he said. “In the game. At lunchtime. But I was eating lunch.”

At home he opened the racing game he played with Kabir and showed her the chat. At 12:40, Arjun's account had sent Kabir a message telling him to open a link, quickly. At 3:55 Kabir had written again: did you really send that? You were at lunch.

Arjun hadn't been anywhere near a screen. Someone, somewhere, had been signed in as him.

“Did I break it?” he asked, very quietly.