GCSE · Computer Science · AQA · Spec 8525

Cyber security overview

Your phone holds your photos, your passwords and your bank details. So who is keeping all of that safe, and what exactly are they keeping it safe from?

Computer Science · Cyber security

Which job did that attack break?

Cyber security has three jobs. Confidentiality: only authorised people can access the data. Integrity: nothing is altered or damaged without authorisation. Availability: it is there for legitimate users when they need it. For each incident, tick every job it breaks. Some break more than one, and one breaks none.

A Confidentiality
B Integrity
C Availability

A stranger reads the saved bank details a customer left with an online shop.
Someone with no permission changes a pupil's mark in the school's records.
An attack knocks the school's homework website offline all evening, so pupils can't log in.
An intruder copies a company's customer list and quietly edits its stock figures.
An intruder damages the files on a clinic's computers, so staff can't open patient records.
A criminal secretly copies a gym's member list, then takes its booking website offline.
A criminal takes over a social media account: reads the owner's private messages, edits what they posted, and locks them out.
A teacher with permission opens the school's register and marks a pupil present.

Computer Science · Cyber security

So what is cyber security, really?

A friend's family has just bought some security software for the home laptop. Your friend says, 'Great, that's cyber security done.'

Which of these is closest to what you think cyber security is?

It's a program. Install the right one and the job is finished.It's a one-off job. Set it up properly once and it stays secure.It only protects machines, because criminals only attack technology.It's the active protection of computer systems, networks and data from cyber attacks, using processes, practices and technologies.

How sure are you?

I'm sureI think soI'm guessing

It's a program. Install the right one and the job is finished.

This is a common misconception

Software is one technology, and a useful one, but it isn't the whole job. Cyber security is processes, practices and technologies working together to prevent attack, damage and unauthorised access. And because some attacks go after people, how people behave counts as much as what is installed.

It's a one-off job. Set it up properly once and it stays secure.

This is a common misconception

Cyber criminals keep changing their methods, so protection that was fine last year may not cover what they try this year. That is why cyber security is active: it has to be kept going, not switched on and forgotten.

It only protects machines, because criminals only attack technology.

This is a common misconception

Criminals attack both technology systems and people. They look for weaknesses in humans as well as in technology, so protection has to cover both.

It's the active protection of computer systems, networks and data from cyber attacks, using processes, practices and technologies.

This matches the evidence

Yes. Notice the word active: it is something people and organisations keep doing, using processes, practices and technologies together, to prevent attack, damage and unauthorised access.

Cyber security isn't something you install once. It's something you keep doing, because the people attacking you keep changing what they do.

Computer Science · Cyber security

Who or what is being targeted?

Every threat on this list goes in exactly one of two broad groups. Decide where each belongs. Don't worry about how each one works: each has its own lesson.

Still to sort

Targets people (0)

The attacker goes after a person.

Where the line is: Ask: is a person being tricked into revealing information or giving access?

Exploits technology or its use (0)

The attacker uses a weakness in technology, or in how it is used.

Where the line is: If nobody is being tricked, and the weakness is in the system or how it is set up or used, it belongs here.

6 of 6 still to sort.

Who needs it, and for what?

IndividualsvsOrganisations and governments

Same job, different things at stake.

Focus

Information to protect

Individuals

Personal information such as photos, passwords and bank details

Organisations and governments

Customer data (businesses) and national security (governments)

The insight

A business protects customers' data as well as its own. A government protects the security of the nation.

Money and accounts

Individuals

Stops online scams and identity theft

Organisations and governments

Businesses protect their accounts and money

Systems that have to keep working

Individuals

Phones, laptops and social media accounts

Organisations and governments

Important infrastructure such as healthcare and transport (governments)

What failing costs

Reason it through

Why does it matter so much that cyber security is maintained?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Criminals keep changing their methods. What happens to a defence that never changes?

Locked — reveal the link above first

Exam practice

Explain it in your own words

Explain why cyber security is important to a business. [4 marks]

Your answer

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

The mark scheme

It protects the business's customer data. (1 mark)
It protects the business's accounts and money. (1 mark)
A business that fails to maintain effective cyber security is likely to become a victim of cyber crime. (1 mark)
A consequence is named, such as a data breach, financial loss, damage to reputation or systems being shut down. (1 mark)

Model answer

Cyber security protects a business's customer data, accounts and money. If a business fails to maintain effective cyber security it is likely to become a victim of cyber crime. That can mean a data breach, financial loss, damage to its reputation or its systems being shut down.

Say what is protected, then what happens if it isn't. Two halves, four marks.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Three jobs, two kinds of threat, and why it never stops

What you need to know

Cyber security is the active protection of computer systems, networks and data from cyber attacks, using processes, practices and technologies.
Confidentiality means only authorised people can access the data.
Integrity means data and systems are not altered or damaged without authorisation.
Availability means systems and data are there for legitimate users when they need them.
Have a goYour mate swears: 'A stranger locked me out of my photo account, so that's a confidentiality problem.' Which purpose is really broken?
Availability.
Confidentiality is about who can see the data. Being locked out means the account isn't there for its legitimate user when they need it.
A single incident can break more than one of those purposes, sometimes all three.
Have a goAttackers read a library's member records, and staff then can't open them all day. How many of the three purposes are broken?
Two: confidentiality and availability.
Reading breaks confidentiality and staff being unable to open the records breaks availability. Nothing was altered, so integrity is fine.
Cyber criminals attack both people and technology, and keep changing their methods, so the threat is constantly evolving.
Threats fall into two broad groups: those that target people, and those that exploit weaknesses in technology or its use.
Have a goA caller sweet-talks an employee into handing over their login. Does that target people or technology?
People: it is social engineering.
The attacker is tricking a person into giving access rather than exploiting a weakness in the technology.
It protects individuals' personal information, businesses' customer data and money, and governments' national security and infrastructure.
Neglect it and you're likely to become a cyber crime victim; organisations often have dedicated teams to prevent, detect and respond.

The big picture

Cyber security is the active protection of computer systems, networks and data from cyber attacks. It keeps data confidential, intact and available, defends against threats that target both people and technology, and matters to individuals, organisations and governments. Threats keep changing, so it has to be maintained: fail at that and you are likely to become a victim of cyber crime.

Key points

1Three purposes: keep data confidential, keep data and systems intact, keep them available to legitimate users.

2Two broad threat groups: those that target people (social engineering) and those that exploit weaknesses in technology or its use.

3Processes, practices and technologies are all needed, and they have to be maintained because criminals keep changing their methods.

4Failing to maintain it risks data breaches, identity theft, financial loss, reputational damage and systems being shut down.

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Worked example

Problem

A cinema's online booking system is attacked. Someone with no permission changes the seat prices, and the booking page then stops loading for customers. Nothing is read or copied. Which of confidentiality, integrity and availability are broken?

⚠ Watch out

Dropping an incident into just one circle because one thing jumped out. Ask all three questions every time. The one that jumps out is rarely the only one.

🧠

Memory hook

C-I-A: Can't be seen by the wrong people, Intact (not changed without permission), Always there for the right ones.

✓

Check yourself

Cold, before you scroll up: a criminal reads a company's private emails, then the email system won't open for staff. Which purposes are broken, and which isn't?

Flashcards

(13)

What is cyber security?

The active protection of computer systems, networks and data from cyber attacks, using processes, practices and technologies.

Confidentiality

Only authorised people can access the data.

Integrity

Data and systems are not altered or damaged without authorisation.

Availability

Systems and data are there for legitimate users when they need them.

Can one incident break more than one of confidentiality, integrity and availability?

Yes. One incident can break two or all three.

What are the two broad groups of cyber security threat?

Threats that target people, and threats that exploit weaknesses in technology or its use.

What is social engineering?

Tricking a person into revealing information or giving access.

Name the technology-side threats you have met.

Malicious software, weak passwords, wrongly set access rights, removable media and software that has not been updated.

Why are cyber threats constantly evolving?

Cyber criminals keep changing their methods to exploit weaknesses in humans and in technology.

What does cyber security protect for individuals?

Personal information such as photos, passwords and bank details, plus phones, laptops and social media accounts. It helps stop online scams and identity theft.

What does cyber security protect for businesses and governments?

Businesses: customer data, accounts and money. Governments: national security and important infrastructure such as healthcare and transport.

What can happen if cyber security isn't maintained?

You are likely to become a victim of cyber crime: data breaches, identity theft, financial loss, damage to reputation or systems being shut down.

What do organisations often have in place to deal with threats?

Dedicated teams to prevent, detect and respond to threats.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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Which job did that attack break?

So what is cyber security, really?

Who or what is being targeted?

Explain it in your own words

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