Data corruption

Data corruption is the alteration of data in a way that it becomes incorrect, inconsistent, or unusable. It is a way to see that potentially someone is tampering with your website or some of your backend is being manipulated. This can be simulated in Conducttr through the use of smartwords.

There are four steps to take to simulate data corruption:

1. Set-up your inject and smartwords in the MEL

2. During the exercise modify the custom data

3. Re-publish the inject

4. Check the inject in the player view

1 - Set up: Inject and smartword

Inject

Create an inject containing a smartword.

Smartword

In Settings, then Smartwords, set-up your text - ensure to click Upload.

An exclamation point next to the smartword indicates that it has not been uploaded

2 - Modify the custom data

During the exercise, in the Facilitator Dashboard, navigate to Content, Custom data and change the text. Once finished click Update data.

3 - Re-publish the inject

Smartwords are not retroactive so it doesn’t go back and change what has already been published - hence we have to republish the article again. There are two ways that you can re-publish the inject.

Publish to player

Publish the article again by navigating to the scenario editor, right-clicking on the inject and then 'Publish to player'.

Pre-planned inject

Or, you can plan an inject with the same smartword to appear later on in the exercise. This will re-publish the news article with the updated smart word.

This option isn't as flexible as the one above since it's timed. If you go with this method, it's a good idea to also add a notification for the Facilitator to change the smartword.

4 - Check the player view

The example below shows the website working with the new custom data