Inspiration
What it does
How we built it
Challenges we ran into
Accomplishments that we're proud of
What we learned
What's next for Internet Safety Simulator
Impact-Focused Project Story (More Emotional) The inspiration for Internet Safety Simulator came from seeing how frequently people fall victim to online scams. From phishing emails to fake job offers, many users don’t realize they are being manipulated until it’s too late. I noticed that awareness alone isn’t enough — people need practice. That’s when I decided to build an interactive learning experience. Instead of simply telling users what phishing looks like, the simulator allows them to face real-world scenarios and make decisions in a safe environment. Each choice provides immediate feedback and explanation, helping users understand why something is safe or risky. To make the experience more practical, I developed a link safety checker powered by a backend system. Users can paste suspicious URLs and receive a safety evaluation with a risk score and reasoning. This project is about empowering users with confidence and digital awareness — turning cybersecurity from theory into hands-on learning. 💻 Technical Development Journey Version Internet Safety Simulator began as a simple idea: create an interactive cybersecurity awareness tool. I designed a scenario-based learning engine using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that dynamically loads situations and tracks user decisions and scores. To enhance functionality, I integrated a Node.js and Express backend to analyze suspicious links. The frontend communicates with the backend using asynchronous fetch requests, allowing real-time risk analysis and feedback. During development, I encountered challenges such as debugging npm installation errors, resolving CORS issues, and ensuring smooth frontend-backend communication. These obstacles helped strengthen the architecture and reliability of the system. The final product combines an intuitive teal-themed UI with functional backend analysis, creating a practical and engaging cybersecurity training platform.
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