Systems Software and Security Flashcards
(28 cards)
Malware
Software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain authorised access to a computer system (e.g viruses)
Virus
A form of malware installed on a computer without the owners knowledge of permission, with the purpose of causing harm. It includes instructions to replicate automatically.
Phishing
Phishing emails are designed to steal money, identity or login details
Blagging
The act of knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data or information without the consent of the controller
Brute force attacks
An attack that goes through a list of different passwords or letters until access is gained
DOS
Denial of service attacks are an attempt to prevent legitimate users from accessing a website, by flooding a company’s network with useless traffic, or by sending out millions of spam emails from an account, preventing legitimate emails from being sent
Shouldering
Looking over someones shoulder while they type their PIN or password
SQL injection
Structured Query Language injection inserts malicious code into a database field on a website, exploiting security weaknesses
Methods to identify vulnerabilities
Network forensics and penetration testing
Network forensics
Using specialist software to look at transactions to verify they are not fraudulent, or stop a security attack
Penetration testing
- Gathering information about the targets of possible attacks
- Identifying potential entry points
- Attempting to break in
- Report back the findings
Internal penetration testing
Tests how much damage could be done by an employee
Network policies
Policies that determine acceptable use of networks
Anti-malware software
- Prevents harmful programs from being installed
- Prevents important files, such as the operating system from being changed or deleted
- Detects installed malware during regular scans and removing them
Firewall
Designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private network or intranet. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which blocks those which don’t meet specified security criteria.
WIMP user interface
Windows, icons, menus and pointers
User management
Enabling a network administrator to set different access rights for different users. The software also allows the administrator identify all users currently on the network, manually log out users, and monitor the times spent logged in
Functions of an operating system
- Providing a user interface
- Memory management
- Peripheral management
- User management
- File management
Memory management
The allocation of blocks of free space in the main memory to a certain program or application
Peripherals management
Controlling the sending of the data from the memory to the device driver upon receiving an instruction
File management
- Enable a user to create, modify, delete and move files
- Allow a user to search for a particular file
- keep track of the location of files on disk or other storage devices
- keep track of the free space on disk where files can be stored
- enable users to restore deleted files
- prevent conflicts when two users on a network attempt to modify the same file
- maintain access rights to files
Utilities examples
- Security utilities(e.g encryption software)
- Disk organisation
- Data compression utilities
- File backup utilities
Disk defragmentation
Moving separated parts of files around so that they can be stored together, optimising disk performance
Automatic updating
Checks that any software installed on the computer is up to date, and downloads and installs any newer versions
