Section 8 - Safety and security Flashcards
What is physical safety?
All about ensuring that you do not suffer any harm whilst working with computers
Examples of physical safety issues
Electrocution
Fire
Tripping over wires
Heavy equipment falling on you
Electrocution
Harm, or even death caused by an electric current passing through the body
Causes of electrocution
Faulty equipment
Spilling drinks over electrical equipment
Opening up an electrical device and messing with the hardware inside
Prevention of electrocution
Make sure wires and insulated
Keep drinks away from equipment
Report any malfunctioning
Causes of fires
Too many devices plugged into a single mains outlet
Prevention of fires
Plenty of main outlets
Don’t plug too many devices in the same outlet
Turn off and unplug devices of away for a long time
Fire extinguisher
Causes of tripping over wires
Long wires or cables trailing across a floor
Prevention of tripping over wires
Encase the wires
Tuck under carpets or desks
Use wireless technology
Causes of heavy equipment falling
Not positioned securely onto desks
Poor quality and flimsy desks
Prevention of falling equipment
Make sure that equipment is positioned away from the edge of desks
Plenty of space on the table
Strong desks/tables
Potential dangers of the Internet
Cyber predators
Cyber bullies
Data theft
Adult content
What is personal data?
Anything that can be used to identify a person
Examples of personal data
Name Address Phone number Photograph Bank details
Why should you keep personal data private?
Prevent identity theft
Prevent theft of your money
Prevent burglary of your home
Prevent physical harm to yourself
What is e-safety?
Knowing how to use the Internet safely
How to use the Internet safely?
Never reveal personal info
Only use websites recommended by teachers or parents
Only open emails from people you know
Know how to block people on social media and in chat rooms
Never post or email pictures of yourself in school uniform
Report unwanted users
Use the privacy controls on social media
Precautions when playing games online
Never reveal personal info Use a nickname as your game name Play online games that use anti-virus software Know how to block people in the game Report unwanted users
What is hacking?
Where people gain unauthorised access to computer systems
What is a key logger?
A special type of software that is secretly sent to a computer system and then ‘logs’ every key press that user of the system make
Why do people try to hack into computer systems?
Cause damage to files or data by deleting or changing them
Commit fraud by stealing data
Access sensitive information
See if they are clever enough to beat the system’s security
Effects of hacking
Identity theft Theft of money Stealing of customer information Stealing email addresses Loss of important information
What is ‘authentication’?
Check that a person accessing a computer system or a network is allowed to do so.
User-IDs and passwords
If the correct user enters the correct password, they would be given access to the computer network.
User-IDs
are unique and identifies particular users as they log onto a computer system or a network
Passwords
a combination of letters, numbers and symbols and should only be known by the user who owns it
How to use a password effectively
change your password often
keep your password secret
don’t write your password down anywhere
Biometric authorisation
users are authenticated using one of their body parts
e.g. face scans
iris scans
fingerprint
Advantages of using biometric authentication
passwords can be forgotten, while body parts aren’t
not possible to forge body parts
Disadvantages of using biometric authentication
high initial costs
How to protect data online?
Digital certificates
Secure socket layer (SSL)
What are digital certificates?
attached to emails and websites in order to prove who has sent the message
What does the digital certificate consist of?
Sender’s email address
Name of the sender
A serial number
Certificate expiry date
What is a secure socket layer?
used on websites where we use bank or credit card details in order to make purchases
e.g. httpS
How does a SSL work?
encrypts the connection between your computer and the e-commerce website and ensure that all transactions are secure
What is ‘phishing’?
when fraudsters try and ‘bait’ users into giving up our bank details, credit card info, usernames and passwords
Where does phishing usually happen?
usually carried out over emails pretending to be from legitimate organisations like banks and building societies
How to protect yourself against phishing?
- never give out bank details and passwords over email
- phishing sometimes promise you enormous wealth -> ignore them
- report any phishing attempts to your email account provider
- don’t respond to emails from people you do not know
What is ‘pharming’?
obtain personal information such as usernames, passwords and bank details but target shopping and banking websites
How is pharming done?
infect legitimate websites with malicious code that will re-direct you to their bogus version of the website
How to protect yourself against pharming?
- check the URL of the website
2. make sure you are on a secure website (https)
What is ‘smishing’?
SMS phishing - phishing through text messages
How to protect yourself against smishing?
- never give your bank details or passwords out over phone or text message
- ignore text messages from people you don’t know
- report any phishing attempts to your mobile phone company
What is ‘spam’?
‘junk email’ or ‘bulk email’ sent automatically to thousands, or even millions of email inboxes
Why do people send spam?
attempt to gain people’s personal data (like bank info) through phishing
advertise low quality products
spread viruses
How do spammer get your email address?
mailing lists
social networking sites
chat rooms
programs that automatically trawl through websites looking for and collecting email addresses
bought illegally from dishonest employees of a busines
How to recognise spam email?
strange sender
you are asked to buy something or send cash
asked to send passwords, bank details or other personal information
email is full of spelling or grammar errors
asked to carry out a task immediately
asked to click a link
How to prevent spam?
use spam filters
don’t post your email address in public websites like chat rooms or social networking sites
What is encryption?
scrambing data into garbled code using an encryption key, so even if data is stolen, it cannot be understood by the thief
Process of encrypting a file
- create an encryption key
- give the receiver a copy of the encryption key
- encrypt the personal message using encryption software and the encryption key. once encrypted, the message will just look like scrambled nonsense
- send the encrypted message to the receiver via the internet
- the receiver gets the message and decrypts it by the encryption key
When should you get encryption?
files containing bank account or credit card data
buying items on the internet using credit/bank cards
any data containing confidential medial records
emails you wish to remain private
any data that can be used to commit identity fraud
Moderated forums
where all user comments are checked by an administrator before they are posted onto the forum
Un-moderated forum
used for online discussions but they do not have administrators or moderators
The security of moderated and un-moderated forums
Moderated: no racist or offensive content no swearing less chance of being exposed to spam personal data is more secure
Un-moderated: high chance of being exposed to racist/offensive content swear words spam adverts greater risks of phishing
Computer virus
programs that automatically make copies of themselves and then attach to other files within the computer
Effects of computer virus
pop-up messages on the screen
computer slows down and crashes a lot
delete important files or data
access personal data like passwords, bank details or credit card numbers
How do viruses infect computers?
download infected files from the internet
email attachments
portable storage media
How to prevent virus infection?
use up-to-date anti-virus software
use genuine copies of software
only open email attachments from people you trust
download software from legitimate websites
Security risks of storing data in the cloud
have no control over the physical security of the data
online storage company might go out of business
hackers
back-ups of data
What is a ‘firewall’?
a program or hardware device that filters the data packets coming through the internet connection into your computer. [network]
Why are firewalls used?
protect your system from hackers, keyloggers, cyber threats
