2.2 Security Aspect

Question 1

What is a ‘hacker’?

Answer 1

A person who tries to gain unauthorised access to a computer or network.

• A ‘white hat hacker’ can be lawfully hired by a company to hack into their own network or computers to test security
• A ‘black hat hacker’ is the more familiar illegal hacker

Question 2

What is ‘malware’?

Answer 2

A software program that is designed to damage or disrupt a computer

Question 3

What is a ‘virus’?

Answer 3

Software (often disguised as another file), often shared in emails or downloaded from the internet without the user knowledge designed to steadily corrupt a computer and the files on it.

Question 4

What is ‘spyware’?

Answer 4

Software designed to track what a user does through the computers internet connection without their permission or knowledge. Used to gather information like bank account details and passwords.

Question 5

What is a ‘firewall’?

Answer 5

• Can be hardware or software (more common)
• It monitors data coming in and out of a computer via the internet
• It scan each packet of information and follows a set of rules to decide if is allowed to be downloaded to the computer

Question 6

Positive and negative characteristics of HARDWARE firewall?

Answer 6

• Expensive (to buy, replace, update)

- Much more secure than a software firewall

Question 7

Positive and negative characteristics of SOFTWARE firewall?

Answer 7

• Cheap
• Easy to update
• Less secure