22 MB, a 10 MB Inbox and a Suspicious Download Page
Priya, a Class 12 student in Hisar, has to submit a 22 MB video project to her IT teacher before 5 p.m. The school email account allows attachments up to 10 MB, and the school Wi-Fi drops every few minutes. Her teacher's account also has a 10 MB limit.
While searching for a diagram, Priya opens a page titled "Free CBSE Project PDF – Instant Download". The page has three large green DOWNLOAD buttons, a pop-up asking her to install a "PDF Helper" extension, and no About or Contact page. The address bar shows http://cbse-project-free.example.info/.
Her teacher also asks her to send the class circular about the practical exam to all 40 students in her class group. Priya's draft has all 40 addresses in the To: field, the subject line "hi", and no body text other than the attached circular.
1. How should Priya get the 22 MB video to her teacher given the 10 MB limit and the unstable connection? Compare two options and state the safer one, including the exact settings she must check.
Read the worked answer
22 MB cannot pass a 10 MB limit - the server also enlarges the file by roughly a third when it encodes it, so even a 9 MB attachment can bounce. The unstable Wi-Fi makes one long upload risky.
Option A - compress or split and attach: a video is already compressed, so compression saves only a few per cent; splitting into three ~8 MB parts means three more chances to fail and the teacher has to rejoin them. Weak. Option B - upload once to cloud storage (school Google or OneDrive account) and email the link: safer, because one resumable upload survives a dropped connection better, the teacher always gets the current version, and no mailbox quota is used.
Settings to check for Option B
- Share as "Anyone with the link – Viewer", never Editor, and never "public on the web".
- Copy the link and test it in a private window or on another phone to confirm it opens without login.
- Rename the file clearly:
Priya_Class12_IT_Project.mp4. - Set an expiry date or remove access after marking, and state the file size and duration in the email.
If uploads keep failing, save the video to a pen drive and hand it over before 5 p.m., or upload from home. Never use an unfamiliar "free file upload" site that asks for personal details.
2. Judge whether the "Free CBSE Project PDF" page is trustworthy. Give four specific signals from the setup and explain what Priya should do instead.
Read the worked answer
Not trustworthy. Signals in the setup:
- The address is
http://, nothttps://, so nothing is protected in transit. - The domain is
cbse-project-free.example.info, notcbse.gov.in- a lookalike name built from the words "free" and "instant". - There is no About page, no Contact, no author and no date, so nobody is accountable for the content.
- Three oversized DOWNLOAD buttons plus a pop-up demanding a "PDF Helper" extension - a PDF should not need software to open.
- "Free" and "instant" are themselves the bait used to attract students at exam time.
Why the extension is the real danger: a browser extension can read and change data on every page she visits, including the school portal and her email. A fake "helper" is a standard way to steal logins or inject advertisements.
What to do: close the tab, refuse the extension, and use the official CBSE site (cbse.gov.in), the school's prescribed material, the library, or ask the teacher. HTTPS alone does not prove safety, but its absence combined with a lookalike domain is enough reason to stop. If anything was downloaded, tell the teacher and run a scan.
3. Rewrite the circular email: give a suitable subject line, a body of three to four sentences, and state which field the 40 addresses should go into and why.
Read the worked answer
Subject: Class 12 IT Practical Exam – Date, Reporting Time and Carry List. (Not "hi": the subject decides whether the mail is opened and whether it can be found later.)
Body "Dear all, The IT practical exam will be held on at in the IT lab; report by . Please carry your admit card, practical file and roll number slip. The detailed circular is attached - read it before the exam. For any query, reply to me only. Priya, Class 12"
Address field: put all 40 addresses in Bcc, with Priya's own address (or a class group address) in To.
Why: 40 addresses in To expose every student's email to every other student and to anyone they forward it to; opening the message also reveals who has read it. It invites "reply all" chains, and one careless reply goes to the whole class. Bcc delivers the same message with the recipient list hidden, so a later compromise of one student's account cannot harvest the whole class list.
Also rename the attachment clearly (for example IT_Practical_Exam_Circular.pdf) and send a copy to herself first to confirm the attachment opens.