Computer Security

Computer Security

1. Firewall

   • Prevents harmful data entering your computer.
   • Used when program is trying to connect from another network.
   • Controls which programs can send and receive data packets.
   • A firewall controls programs send or receive data packets.
   • Used to help protect a computer from network intruders.

2. Anti-virus software

   • Quarantines any programs or files which are harmful.
   • Protecting against malicious software.
   • Needs updating regularly to make sure that it knows the latest threats, the updating would probably need to be periodically (e.g everyday, every Tuesday at 6pm etc.
   • Should be used on email attachments and downloads.

3. Encryption

   • A) Encryption allows you hide your personal data, whether it is passwords, payments or sending messages to other people.
   • B) To encrypt a message you need to use your own sort of code whether it is cesar cipher but it can't be foreign language.
   • D) We use encryption when we don't want specific people to see messages we send or our personal details, this used to happen a lot in the war when us British didn't want to Germans to see the messages we sent to fellow British if they knew then they could surprise attack us that is why it is important to use encryption.
   • C) In order to decrypt a message you either need to a be a hacking genius or you need a key, a key will show you what letter is equal to another so for example a could = 4 in code language, so that is how you decrypt.
   • https: https appears on a website when you need to input data onto that website but you would need that information encrypted so you aren't giving away personal information.
   • You will know if a website is using encryption for your data because your data will appear in stars or dots so the website cannot see what it says.
   • Not all websites use encyptions for your personal data this will mean that this website is probably untrusted.
   • Examples of encryption in everyday life include when you might put your pin number into a credit card reader, it normally comes up as stars.

4. 5 top tips on computer security!

   • When creating a secure password you need to think of something hard for hackers although it must be easy for you to remember and never use anything like password or 123456 or abcdef.
   • Now and again everyone likes to purchase something online yet you need to make sure you're not giving away too much detail like bank details.
   • Sometimes it is ok to download programs from websites, however you should be careful if they are not trusted websites or they could give you a nasty surprise.
   • You also need to make sure that when you are downloading games and videos they are free unless they are a trusted website, and remember if it is too good to be true it probably is!
   • You always need to careful when signing into new sites, never give away details you don't feel comfortable with; make sure its a trusted website.
   • Phishing: Phishing is when unauthorised users try to get your personal information like bank details, passwords or any other information, in order to prevent phishing you should be cautious of untrusted websites and people. Phishing starts off when you get an email from an untrusted website that might look genuine but actually isn't.

5. Passwords

   • Preferably a password should be 8 characters long. You need to try and make sure that your password is not referred to any details about you and hard to crack.
   • It should consist of symbols, uppercase letters, numbers and lowercase letters.

6. Consquences

   • Profit
     • If you ran a business and make a mistake on your website that could make your website unable for people to access meaning people can't but items which leads you not making any profit.
   • Reputation
     • If your website ran down it would also mean you had a bad reputation meaning that it would not be trusted and people would avoid it and write bad comments.

7. Malware

   • Viruses
     • Trojan Horse: A Trojan horse virus adds viruses to your computer even if you don't want them, they are unwanted programs or viruses.
     • Zombie: A zombie virus is when it can take over one computer and then if all computers are connected together it will mean they will all get infected by the virus.