Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Your notes

Computer Science
Cyber Security
Contents
Cyber Security Threats
Keeping Data Safe

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 Cyber Security Threats
Your notes
Forms of cyber security threat
Computers face a variety of forms of attack and they can cause a large number of issues
for a network and computers
The main threats posed are:
Brute-force attacks
Data interception & theft
DDos attack
Hacking
Malware
Pharming
Phishing
Social engineering

Brute Force Attack

What is a brute-force attack?
A brute force attack works by an attacker repeatedly trying multiple combinations of a
user's password to try and gain unauthorised access to their accounts or devices
An example of this attack would be an attacker finding out the length of a PIN code, for
example, 4-digits
They would then try each possible combination until the pin was cracked, for example
0000
0001
0002
A second form of this attack, commonly used for passwords is a dictionary attack
This method tries popular words or phrases for passwords to guess the password as
quickly as possible
Popular words and phrases such as 'password', '1234' and 'qwerty' will be checked
extremely quickly.

Data interception
What is data interception & theft?

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 Data interception and theft is when thieves or hackers can compromise usernames and
passwords as well as other sensitive data
Your notes
This is done by using devices such as a packet sniffer
A packet sniffer will be able to collect the data that is being transferred on a network
A thief can use this data to gain unauthorised access to websites, companies and more

DDoS Attack
What is a DDoS attack?
A Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS attack) is a large scale, coordinated
attack designed to slow down a server to the point of it becoming unusable
A server is continually flooded with requests from multiple distributed devices
preventing genuine users from accessing or using a service
A DDoS attack uses computers as 'bots', the bots act as automated tools under the
attackers control, making it difficult to trace back to the original source
A DDoS attack can result in companies losing money and not being able to carry out
their daily duties
A DDoS attack can cause damage to a company's reputation

Hacking
What is hacking?
Hacking is the process of identifying and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system
or network to gain unauthorised access
Access can be for various malicious purposes, such as stealing data, installing malware,
or disrupting operations
Hackers seek out opportunities that make this possible, this includes:
Unpatched software
Out-of-date anti-malware

Malware
What is malware?
Malware (malicious software) is the term used for any software that has been created
with malicious intent to cause harm to a computer system
Examples of issues caused by malware include
Files being deleted, corrupted or encrypted
Internet connection becoming slow or unusable
Computer crashing or shutting down

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 There are various types of malware and each has slightly different issues which they
cause
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Malware What it Does

Virus Contains code that will replicate and cause unwanted and
unexpected events to occur
Examples of issues a user may experience are
Corrupt files
Delete data
Prevent applications from running correctly

Worms Very similar to viruses, main difference being that they spread to other
drives and computers on the network
Worms can infect other computers from
Infected websites
Instant message services
Email
Network connection

Trojan Sometimes called a Trojan Horse

Trojans disguise themselves as legitimate software but contain
malicious code in the background

Spyware Allow a person to spy on the users' activities on their devices

Embedded into other software such as games or programs that have
been downloaded from illegitimate sources
Can record your screen, log your keystrokes to gain access to
passwords and more

Adware Displays adverts to the user

Users have little or no control over the frequency or type of ads
Can redirect clicks to unsafe sites that contain spyware

Ransomware Locks your computer or device and encrypts your documents and
other important files
A demand is made for money to receive the password that will allow
the user to decrypt the files

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 No guarantee paying the ransom will result in the user getting their
data back
Your notes
Pharming
What is pharming?
Pharming is typing a website address into a browser and it being redirected to a 'fake'
website in order to trick a user into typing in sensitive information such as passwords
An attacker attempts to alter DNS settings, the directory of websites and their matching
IP addresses that is used to access websites on the internet or change a users browser
settings
A user clicks a link which downloads malware
The user types in a web address which is then redirected to the fake website

How can you protect against it?

To protect against the threat of pharming:
Keep anti-malware software up to date
Check URLs regularly
Make sure the padlock icon is visible

Phishing
What is phishing?
Phishing is the process of sending fraudulent emails/SMS to a large number of people,
claiming to be from a reputable company or trusted source
Phishing is an attempt to try and gain access to your details, often by coaxing the user to
click on a login button/link

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Social Engineering
Your notes
What is social engineering?
Social engineering is exploiting weaknesses in a computer system by targeting the
people that use or have access to them
There are many forms of social engineering, some examples include
Fraudulent phone calls: pretending to be someone else to gain access to their
account or their details
Pretexting: A scammer will send a fake text message, pretending to be from the
government or human resources of a company, this scam is used to trick an
individual into giving out confidential data
People are seen as the weak point in a system because human errors can lead to
significant issues, some of which include:
Not locking doors to computer/server rooms
Not logging their device when they're not using it
Sharing passwords
Not encrypting data
Not keeping operating systems or anti-malware software up to date

Worked Example
A company is concerned about a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
(i) Describe what is meant by a DDoS attack.
[4]
(ii) Suggest one security device that can be used to help prevent a DDoS attack.[1]
Answers
(i) Any four from:
multiple computers are used as bots
designed to deny people access to a website
a large number / numerous requests are sent (to a server) …
… all at the same time
the server is unable to respond / struggles to respond to all the requests
the server fails / times out as a result.
(ii)
firewall OR proxy server

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 Keeping Data Safe
Your notes
Access Levels
What are access levels?
Access levels ensure users of a network can access what they need to access and do
not have access to information/resources they shouldn't
Users can have designated roles on a network
Access levels can be set based on a user's role, responsibility, or clearance level
Full access - this allows the user to open, create, edit & delete files
Read-only access - this only allows the user to open files without editing or
deleting
No access - this hides the file from the user
Some examples of different levels of access to a school network could include:
Administrators: Unrestricted - Can access all areas of the network
Teaching Staff: Partially restricted - Can access all student data but cannot access
other staff members' data
Students: Restricted - Can only access their own data and files
Users and groups of users can be given specific file permissions

Anti Malware
What is anti-malware software?
Anti-malware software is a term used to describe a combination of different software to
prevent computers from being susceptible to viruses and other malicious software
The different software anti-malware includes are
Anti-virus
Anti-spam
Anti-spyware

How does anti-malware work?

Anti-malware scans through email attachments, websites and downloaded files to
search for issues
Anti-malware software has a list of known malware signatures to block immediately if
they try to access your device in any way
Anti-malware will also perform checks for updates to ensure the database of known
issues is up to date

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Authentication
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What is authentication?
Authentication is the process of ensuring that a system is secure by asking the user to
complete tasks to prove they are an authorised user of the system
Authentication is done because bots can submit data in online forms
Authentication can be done in several ways, these include
Usernames and passwords
Multi-factor authentication
CAPTCHA - see example below

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 Your notes

Biometrics

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 Biometrics use biological data for authentication by identifying unique physical
characteristics of a human such as fingerprints, facial recognition, or iris scans
Your notes
Biometric authentication is more secure than using passwords as:
A biometric password cannot be guessed
It is very difficult to fake a biometric password
A biometric password cannot be recorded by spyware
A perpetrator cannot shoulder surf to see a biometric password

Automating Software Updates

What are automatic software updates?
Automatic software updates take away the need for a user to remember to keep
software updated and reduce the risk of software flaws/vulnerabilities being targeted
in out of date software
Automatic updates ensure fast deployment of updates as they release

Communication
What is communication?
One way of protecting data is by monitoring digital communication to check for errors
in the spelling and grammar or tone of the communication
Phishing scams often involve communication with users, monitoring it can be effective
as:
Rushed - emails and texts pretending to be from a reputable company are focused
on quantity rather than quality and often contain basic spelling and grammar errors
Urgency - emails using a tone that creates panic or makes a user feel rushed is often
a sign that something is suspicious
Professionalism - emails from reputable companies should have flawless spelling
and grammar

URL
How to check a URL?
Checking the URL attached to a link is another way to prevent phishing attacks
Hackers often use fake URLs to trick users into visiting fraudulent websites
e.g. http://amaz.on.co.uk/ rather than http://amazon.co.uk/
If you are unsure, always check the website URL before clicking any links contained in an
email

Firewalls

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What is a firewall?
A firewall monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and uses a set of rules to Your notes
determine which traffic to allow
A firewall prevents unwanted traffic from entering a network by filtering requests to
ensure they are legitimate
It can be both hardware and software and they are often used together to provide
stronger security to a network
Hardware firewalls will protect the whole network and prevent unauthorised traffic
Software firewalls will protect the individual devices on the network, monitoring the
data going to and from each computer

What form of attack would this prevent?

Hackers
Malware
Unauthorised access to a network

Privacy Settings
What are privacy settings?
Privacy settings are used to control the amount of personal information that is shared
online
They are an important measure to prevent identity theft and other forms of online fraud
Users should regularly review their privacy settings and adjust them as needed

Proxy Servers
What is a proxy server?
A proxy-server is used to hide a user's IP address and location, making it more difficult
for hackers to track them
They act as a firewall and can also be used to filter web traffic by setting criteria for
traffic
Malicious content is blocked and a warning message can be sent to the user
Proxy-servers are a useful security measure for protecting against external security
threats as it can direct traffic away from the server

SSL
What is SSL?
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a security protocol which is used to encrypt data
transmitted over the internet

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This helps to prevent eavesdropping and other forms of interception
SSL is widely used to protect online transactions, such as those involving credit card Your notes
information or other sensitive data
It works by sending a digital certificate to the user’s browser
This contains the public key which can be used for authentication
Once the certificate is authenticated, the transaction will begin

Worked Example
(i) ) Identify a security solution that could be used to protect a computer from a
computer virus, hacking and spyware.
Each security solution must be different

Threat Security solution

Computer virus

Hacking

Spyware

[3]
(ii) Describe how each security solution you identified in (i) will help protect the
computer.
[6]
Answers
(i)

Threat Security solution

Computer virus Anti-malware/virus (software) Firewall

Hacking Firewall
Passwords
Biometrics
Two-step verification

Spyware Anti-malware/virus (software)

Two-step verification
Firewall

(ii) Two marks for each description

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Anti-malware/virus (software)
Scans the computer system (for viruses) Your notes
Has a record of known viruses
Removes/quarantines any viruses that are found
Checks data before it is downloaded
… and stops download if virus found/warns user may contain virus
Anti-malware/spyware (software)
Scans the computer for spyware
Removes/quarantines any spyware that is found
Can prevent spyware being downloaded
Firewall
Monitors traffic coming into and out of the computer system
Checks that the traffic meets any criteria/rules set
Blocks any traffic that does not meet the criteria/rules set // set
blacklist/whitelist
Passwords
Making a password stronger // by example
Changing it regularly
Lock out after set number of attempts // stops brute force attacks // makes
it more difficult to guess
Biometrics
Data needed to enter is unique to individual
… therefore it is very difficult to replicate
Lock out after set number of attempts
Two-step verification
Extra data is sent to device, pre-set by user
… making it more difficult for hacker to obtain it
Data has to be entered into the same system
… so if attempted from a remote location, it will not be accepted

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