1.6: ETHICAL, LEGAL, CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Question 1

what is a stake holder?

Answer 1

anyone who is impacted by the actions of an organisation

Question 2

what are ethics?

Answer 2

moral principles, or rules, which govern a person’s attitudes and behaviour

Question 3

what do Ethical issues in computing include? (2)

Answer 3

• ensuring public safety

- security of data

Question 4

what does the term ‘cultural issues’ mean?

Answer 4

computer matters that have an effect on the nature and culture of society

Question 5

examples of cultural issues: (2)

Answer 5

• the digital divide

- the changing nature of employment

Question 6

how does the digital divide affect younger and older people?

Answer 6

younger people may embrace new technology more than older members of society
-as they sometimes fear technology and feel excluded because they cannot use or understand it

Question 7

how do financial situations often contribute to the digital divide?

Answer 7

the UK is prosperous with high standards of living, but many people live in countries where access to computers is expensive and simply unaffordable.

Question 8

how do living areas contribute to the digital divide?

Answer 8

people in cities tend to have access to high-speed broadband, while those in rural or remote areas often do not.

Question 9

how do IT skills contribute to the digital divide?

Answer 9

Many employers now require good IT skills, and jobseekers who lack those skills may find it difficult to gain employment.

Question 10

discuss the changing nature of employment (2)

Answer 10

• employees work from home and communicate via technology
• Automation of processes using technology has led to a fall in manual, low-skilled work, such as warehouse packing. On the other hand, more high-skilled work is now available, which includes the maintenance of automated systems.

Question 11

discuss the meaning of ‘environmental issues’ in the computing sector?

Answer 11

Environmental issues are those where the manufacturing and use of computers has had a negative impact on the environment

Question 12

what is an issue that arises from using powerful computers? (such as web servers, domain name servers and data centres) (2)

Answer 12

• need to be left running continuously.

- This requires lots of energy to maintain.

Question 13

discuss the (dis &) advantage of creating newer devices

Answer 13

computers already have a heavy impact on the environment, which is unlikely to decrease in the near future.

However, many devices are now more power efficient than their predecessors and some companies have come up with innovative ways to save power.

Question 14

how does the internet make illegal activities easier? give an example of this?

Answer 14

internet allows people to commit crimes remotely.

For example, a hacker could gain access to a computer on the other side of the world.

Question 15

what do new technologies bring? and what are legislations needed for?

Answer 15

New technologies bring new crimes.

Legislation is needed to cover new technologies and protect the public.

Question 16

state the 6 rules of the data protection act of 2018

Answer 16

personal data must:

• be fairly and lawfully processed
• be obtained for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes
• be adequate, relevant and not excessive
• be accurate and up to date
• not be kept for longer than is necessary
• be handled in a way that ensures security

Question 17

what is the purpose of the data protection act 2018?

Answer 17

developed to control how personal or customer information is used by organisations or government bodies

Question 18

what is the purpose of the computer misuse act 1990?

Answer 18

designed to protect computer users against harmful attacks

Question 19

3 rules of the computer misuse act 1990:

Answer 19

1. Unauthorised access to computer material.
2. Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences.
3. Unauthorised access with intent to impair, or modify data
4. Making, supplying or obtaining anything which can be used in computer misuse offenses

Question 20

what does the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 exists to do?

Answer 20

gives the creator of published material the control over the way it is used.

Question 21

what is copy right?

Answer 21

A set of rights that prevents people copying and distributing a piece of work without the copyright holder’s permission.

Question 22

what does copyright give copy right users?

Answer 22

exclusive rights to publish, copy, distribute and sell their creation

Question 23

what is a license?

Answer 23

A legal agreement between the company that published the software and the end user covering areas such as copyright.

Question 24

what happens when you purchase an item with a license?

Answer 24

copyright holder grants permission for you to use it as part of the sale.

Question 25

what is malware?

what does it do?

Answer 25

Malicious software designed to cause harm to a network or computer system.
Attaches itself to programs or files on a computer or server.

Question 26

what can malware affect?

Answer 26

all components of an operating system

Question 27

what are the 5 main types of malware?

Answer 27

Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Spyware & Ransomware

Question 28

define ‘viruses’:

• how do they work?

- how do they often cause harm?

Answer 28

• Programs embedded (hidden) within other files.
• They replicate themselves and become part of other programs.
• Viruses often cause damage by deleting or modifying data.

Question 29

define ‘worms’:

-how do they often spread?

Answer 29

• Programs similar to viruses except that they are not hidden within other files.
• Worms often spread through emails.

Question 30

define ‘Spyware’:

-how do they often cause harm?

Answer 30

• Programs that monitor user activities (such as websites visited, usernames and passwords used)
• send the information back to a hacker.

Question 31

define ‘Ransomware’:

-how do they work and how do they often cause harm?

Answer 31

• Programs that attempt to blackmail a user into making a payment to a hacker.
• they encrypt documents and will not decrypt them until a ransom is paid.

Question 32

define ‘phishing/ social engineering’:

Answer 32

The phishing email pretends to be a genuine message and tries to deceive the user into following a link to a website that looks like the real company,

-Commonly involves tricking users into breaking normal security procedures over phone, email or in person.

Question 33

define ‘brute force attack’:

Answer 33

Where a program is used to find a password by trying all possible combinations of characters until the correct one is obtained.

Question 34

define ‘Denial Of Service Attack’:

what does it use?

Answer 34

• attempts to flood a website server with an overwhelming number of data requests to crash or disrupt network sites.
• Uses a number of computers over a network of infected machines which send requests.

Question 35

define ‘data theft/ interception’:

• how does data travel?
• what could happen to them?
• how could data also be stolen?

Answer 35

Data travels across networks in packets

Packets can be intercepted.

Data can also be intercepted physically, for example portable hard drives and other external hardware can be stolen

Question 36

define ‘Structured query language (SQL) injection’:

-what code can be used to delete all data?

Answer 36

Malicious code entered into a website form to gain unauthorized access to data by modifying websites security forms.
-‘DROP TABLE’

Question 37

differences between open source and proprietary software?

Answer 37

• Open source software can be free of copyright and is usually available to anyone.
• Proprietary software is copyrighted and only available under licence.

Question 38

how could malware be prevented? (2)

Answer 38

Anti-Malware - searches for, detects, and removes viruses, and other malicious software.​

Firewall - prevents unauthorised access / hacking into the network.

Question 39

how could phishing/ social engineering be prevented? (2)

Answer 39

Firewalls - Filters web content or downloading files by stopping unauthorised traffic entering and leaving a network.

Limit user access levels/privileges – prevent users from downloading files.​

Question 40

how could a brute force attack be prevented? (2)

Answer 40

Strong Passwords / Captcha​

Preventing number of login attempts or using captcha form for brute force.

Question 41

how could you prevent a DDOS attack? (2)

Answer 41

Limit the number of login attempts or requests using captcha form.​

Adding filters to router to drop packets from obvious sources of attack.

Question 42

how could you prevent data theft/ interception? (2)

Answer 42

Encryption - jumble/scramble/mix up the data // turns it into cypher text eg; Caesar Cipher, If it is accessed it cannot be understood​

Physical Security – Locks on doors, CCTV, Security Guards etc.

Question 43

how could you prevent an SQL injection? (2)

Answer 43

Penetration testing should be undertaken/vulnerabilities should be found.​

Limit user access levels/privileges since restriction limits the actions a user can take, thereby reducing potential threats.