Data Transfer & Passwords (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE ICT)

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Computer Science Content Creator

Sharing data is a fundamental reason to use a network, electronic data is constantly moving between sender and receiver
The transfer of data on a network poses potential security risks, such as:
- Unauthorised access
- Data manipulation

Cause	Risks
Hackers	Exploit network weaknesses and access/delete/steal confidential data
Insider threats	Intentionally/unintentionally compromising network security polices leading to data interception/theft
Social engineering	Manipulating network users into giving away confidential information and/or clicking links which installs malware leading to the compromise of data
Unencrypted transfers	No encryption protocols used when transferring sensitive data
Weak encryption	Weak or outdated encryption protocols used when transferring sensitive data
Insecure protocols	Using HTTP instead of HTTPS when dealing with sensitive information

Passwords are a digital lock to prevent unauthorised access to an account
They are often stored as an encrypted/ciphered text entry in a database, ensuring that even with unauthorised access to a database, a hacker would not be able to gain access to the individual passwords of users
Passwords must be kept safe, this can be achieved by:
- Using anti-spyware software to ensure 'keyloggers' are not used
- Periodically changing passwords to ensure they have not been compromised
- Ensuring passwords are 'strong'
  - Mixture of upper/lower case
  - Contain at least one number
  - Contain at least one symbol
  - Minimum of eight characters

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

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