Confidential data
Many people are concerned about organisations storing personal, confidential details on computer. A student may want to know:
- What information the school stores about them?
- Who has access to this information, eg which members of staff?
- Whether the information is available to other schools or organisations?
- What security measures are in place to prevent unauthorised access to the information?
- Could the information stored be used against them in any way?
The internet and crime
New technology brings with it new crimes and as a result some governments are setting up special units to deal with internet crime.
A major concern is internet fraud. For example, An attempt to gain personal information about someone by way of deception, eg sending an email pretending to be from their bank asking them for their bank details. scams, When the identity of an individual is assumed by someone else in order to profit, financially or otherwise. and denial of service attacks are common techniques used by criminals today.
Other concerns surround:
- the interception of credit card details and transactions online
- Gaining unauthorised access to a computer. into personal, private files with criminal intent
- fraudulent A web page or group of web pages hosted on one web server and viewed in a web browser, usually maintained by a person, group or organisation. taking credit card details from customers
- the spreading of A small program written to cause harm to a computer. via the internet
Internet security
There are a number of ways the public are made to feel safer when using the internet:
- Files that are encrypted have been altered using a secret code and are unreadable to unauthorised parties. of sensitive Values, typically letters or numbers., making it unreadable until it reaches its destination and is decrypted
- passwords and access level restrictions
- firewalls (protection from hackers)
- Anti-virus software scans all forms of storage devices for viruses (programs harmful to computers) and, if found, attempts to remove them.The programs, applications and data in a computer system. Any parts of a computer system that aren't physical.
- tough penalties for offenders under the Defines and criminalises a number of offences involving the use of a computer, eg unauthorised access to computer systems.