CH6

• Data Privacy

  The privacy of personal information, or other information stored on a computer, that should not be accessed by unauthorized parties
• Data Protection Law

  Laws which govern how data should be kept private and secure
• Data Protection Law Guide

  • Data must be fairly and lawfully processed
  • Data can only be processed for the stated purpose
  • Data must be adequate, relevant, and not excessive
  • Data must be accurate
  • Data must not be kept longer than necessary
  • Data must be processed in accordance with the data subject's right
  • Data must be kept secure
  • Data must not be transferred to another country unless that country also has adequate protection
• Data Security

  Methods taken to prevent unauthorized access to data and to recover data if lost or corrupted
• User Accounts

  • Used to authenticate a user (prove the user is who they claim to be)
  • Used on both standalone and networked computers
  • Consist of: Username and password
  • User account control access rights
  • Involves level of access
• Passwords

  • Restrict access to data or systems
  • Hard to crack and changed frequently to retain security
  • Run anti-spyware to make sure password is not being relayed to whoever is spying
  • Regularly change passwords and make it hard to crack
  • At least one capital
  • At least one numerical
  • At least one symbol
• Digital Signatures

  A way of identifying the sender of
• Firewalls

  • Software/hardware that sits between a computer and external network that monitors and filters all incoming and outgoing activities
  • Examine traffic between user's computer and public network
  • Checking whether incoming/outgoing data meets a given set of criteria
  • Prevent access to undesirable sites
  • Cannot protect individuals using their own modems to by-pass the firewall
  • Prevent stand-alone computers from disabling the firewall
• Antivirus Software

  • Constantly check for virus attack
  • Check software /files before they are run or loaded on computer
  • Compare possible viruses against a database of known viruses
• AntiSpyware Software

  Detects and removes spyware programs installed illegally on a user's computer system
• Encryption

  • The use of encryption keys to make data meaningless without the correct decryption key
  • Cannot stop hacker from deleting files, but stop from using the data
• Biometrics

  • Use of unique human characteristics to identify a user
  • Fingerprint scans, retina scans
• Hacking

  • Malicious Hacking: Illegal access to a computer system without the user's permission or knowledge
  • Ethical Hacking: Authorized by companies to check their security measures and how robust their computer systems are to resist hacking attacks
• Malware

  • Viruses: Program or code that can replicate and/or copy themselves with the intention of deleting/corrupting files or causing the computer to malfunction
  • Spyware: Gather information by monitoring key presses and sending them back to the person who sent the software
• Phishing

  Legitimate looking emails designed to trick a recipient into giving their personal data to the sender of the email
• Pharming

  • Redirecting a user to a fake website in order to illegally obtain personal data about the user
  • Redirecting can be done using DNS Cache Poisoning
• Data Integrity

  The accuracy, completeness and consistency of data
• Validation

  Method used to ensure entered data is reasonable and meets certain input criteria

  
• Verification

  Method used to ensure data is correct by using double entry or visual checks
• Verification during Data Entry

  • Double Entry: Data is entered twice, using 2 different people, and then compared either after data entry or during the data entry process
  • Visual Check: Entered data is compared with the original document
  • Check Digits: An additional digit added to a number, often used in barcodes, ISBNs, and VINs
  • Modulo-11: Method to calculate a check digit based on modulus division by 11
• Verification During Data Transfer

  • Checksum: Method to check if data has been changed or corrupted following data transmission
  • Parity Check: Check whether data has been changed or corrupted following transmission from one device or medium to another

  
• Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)

  • Uses acknowledgement (a message sent to the receiver indicating that data has been received correctly) and timeout (the time interval allowed to elapse before an acknowledgement is received)
  • When the receiving device detects an error in a data transmission, it asks for the data packet to be re-sent
  • If no error is detected, a positive acknowledgement is sent to the sender
  • The sending device will resend the data package if it receives a request to resend the data or timeout occurred
  • Whole process is continuous until data packet received is correct or until the ARW timeout is reached