Passwords Data Encryption

GCSE ICT

Using Passwords

Should use a mixture of random numbers and letters.

Don’t make it hard to remember.

Don’t use names as they are too easy to search for and relate.

Don’t write it down on paper – lose it or someone may find it.

Could use a mixture of “jumbled” initials and date of birth.

If you forget password, it may not be possible to access work.

How else can we protect against unauthorised access?

Limit access to computers – only allow read or write access to certain individuals.

Add a bio recognition device.

Use a firewall.

Securing Data accessed over Internet

Fear of fraud if personal details are intercepted by someone.

Opening you computer up to threats from viruses via download programmes – encryption

The process of scrambling / encoding messages and information so that they can not be read without the key to the code. Many different types of software that can be used to encrypt data and most use the ‘public key’ system. Two keys – public and private. The public key is used to encrypt the message or data and the private key is used to decode it.

What is its use?

Encryption does not ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Fear of fraud if personal details are intercepted by someone.

Opening you computer up to threats from viruses via download programmes – encryption

What is its use?

Encryption does not stop a hacker getting into a system it stops the hacker from understanding the data, one type of encryption is to jumble letters in the wrong order or to change letters to numbers. Recognise that a site is secure - message on screen or padlock – means any data sent to or from the site is encrypted and secure.

How is data secured on the internet?

Secure websites (padlock); Use encryption to transfer data; Check for HTTPS’s (hyper text transfer protocol over socket layer) at the beginning of the URL (universal resource locator); Your browser software will encrypt any data being transferred from that page and it will be decoded.

Evaluation of Websites including Validity and Usability

Dynamic – generated by some other program or accesses a database EH – art holidays – ask about them and then searches the database and gives customer list of art holidays available.

Static – comes from an existing file lying on the file system. Page which rarely changes – Contact Page – got a problem – contact Travel-m8 here.

.gov is a government website; .ac is an academic website.; .ed is an educational website.; .org is a charity or organisation.; .co or .com is probably a commercial site and may be reliable but will usually have a commercial interest.; .sch is a school website in the UK. (Pupils could check how up to date the information is.); Updates: the most recent update of the site can be found in the site information or from clues in the text, such as dated news items. Advertisements: the number of adverts and their level of prominence can reveal how much the site depends on income from advertising. Pupils should remember that some sites sell advertising space as a means of maintaining their presence on the web. Some charities do the same but their prime objective may be to publicise their charity and to raise money. ; Web access – depends on connections you have got. Could be slow because of – fast access speeds; large amounts of memory used on web page; data access could be slow as you have to wait whilst website loads.

Peer Reviews

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

danielbeal

19th of Feb 2012

Quality of writing

The writing style is almost as bullet-points, which doesn't allow the student to give an in-depth answer. For either a Merit/Distinction, the report should be in a paragraph format to give an detailed answer. On the flip side, the report states the term 'Encryption' and gives a detailed answer. This part would be awarded with high marks, however other areas of the report are needed to be of the same high standard. In addition, terms such as 'HTTP' are described and gives an in-depth answer. The report does mention a number of other technical terms and these are explained. The quality of the answer regrading technical terms, would grant the student high marks of this aspect of the report.

Level of analysis

The report is lacking analysis, which is required for either an Merit/Distinction in ICT. There are points, which could be explained in-depth, although the report doesn't go further enough to be granted these marks. For example the report states 'Use a firewall', however what is a firewall? The student could research what this is, and explain how this protects unlawful access.

Response to question

In summary, I would grade the report as 'Pass'. This is the lowest mark within ICT. The report states a number of technical terms relating to data encryption, and explains these toughly. However the process of how these are used within websites lack detail. The report shows basic understanding of how people should protect their accounts with using passwords and a number of measures to prevent unlawful access. It's quite difficult to understand the thinking behind the student throughout the report. The report states 'Secure Websites (padlock), it's not clear what is meant by this. I'm assuming that this is the padlock symbol displayed on the internet browser to tell the user that the website is safe. However the report doesn't explain this or give any screenshot of this in practice.

Did you find this review helpful? Join our team of reviewers and help other students learn