GCSE Systems software

OCR and
Security
Computer Science
J276 Unit 3
System Security

1
Objectives
• Understand threats to a computer system and what
they are targeting.

• Explain the different threats that can effect a system

• Discuss ways to protect a system from threats.

Exam Questions
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Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

Silent Starter
Name the vulnerability!

Malware Phishing Hacking

Intrusive software like
computer viruses and
Trojan Horses.
Prevent with Anti-Virus /
Malware Software
Exploits weaknesses in a computer
system.
Prevent with encrypting personal
data and not following suspicious
email links
Exploits weaknesses in a
computer system.
Prevent with firewall, changing
passwords, not opening
suspicious emails or using anti-
spyware
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Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

What are threats

Threats are types of software or human interference
that cause lose of data, or access to information that
should not be seen.

These are all big risks to companies and individuals

where it can cause them to loose important
information, and in some cases even loose money.
The CPU
Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

Activity
Time – 30mins
You have a worksheet in front of you, with the main
threats written on it.

You need to research the different threats online, and

find out;
• What the threat is
• What it effects
• How to protect against it
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Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

Malware
Malware is the correct name for ALL forms of Virus.
The aim of the virus is to infect your computer and
start to replicate itself across your hard drive to make it
difficult to remove.
Viruses are usually spread through attachments in
email, downloads from suspicious websites or by
connecting to a infected computer with a memory
stick.
Anti Virus software will protect against most Malware.
The CPU
Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

Phishing
Phishing is a type of fraud that happens online.
Emails will be sent where the sender is trying to make
the read feel sorry for them, or think that they are a
respectful business man.
They will ask for bank details, or personal information
in order to take money or steal their identity.
You should never click a link from a suspicious email,
and always check the email address to see if it is
believable.
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Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

Human Error
On average, people have more than 25 accounts where
they need to log in with a password.

However the average person only has 3-4 different

passwords, because of this, if one account gets lost,
many of their other accounts can become a hijacked.
People can also loose information, or even hardware
such as laptops which have important information
present.
Brute Force Attacks
Brute force attacks are a form of hacking where the
user tries to guess a password by entering in different
combinations of letters, words and symbols.
A program will make use of a collection of the most
commonly used passwords and attempt to log in using
that.

Password Checker

Brute Force
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Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

Denial Of Service attacks(DoS)

Denial of Service attack is a threat where a website or
service is shut down.
A user causes a website to get thousands of “Pings” per second,
where each ping looks like a user visiting the website.

This causes the website to be either extremely slow, or

crash due to the increased traffic.
Think of a door being a normal website, then push a
few thousand students through it, people will get stuck,
and a lot of people will end up waiting due to the
traffic.
Data Interception
Data Interception is a form of attack where a user
collects data as a user is entering or using it.
This includes watching someone enter their PIN, entering a
password.

This can also happen if a user creates a Wi-Fi hotspot

without a password, people who connect to it have to
send their information to their device first before
connecting to the internet.
The data can then be read and stored, including important
information such as Usernames and Passwords
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Unit 1 Systems architecture, memory and storage

SQL Injection
SQL Injection is a method of taking advantage of poor
security or poorly written code in websites.
When you log into a computer you have to enter a User name and
password.
A computer will then return True or False (1 or 0) if the
user name or password has been accepted.

Some systems however will allow access if a user enters 1=1 or 1

into the username and password box as the system thinks it has
already checked and returned a True value, bypassing the log in
screen.
Bad Network policies
Some security problems can simply down to bad Network policies,
because of poor management by the network admin.
These can include;
• Poor standard of Password requirements
• Not changing a password after a set amount of time
• Giving users too much privilege to access restricted files
• Allowing users to install programs that could be infected with
malware