Cyber Security
Internet and Its Uses · 3 question types
Exam Frequency Analysis
Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)
This topic accounts for approximately 8% of your exam marks.
Threats (phishing, pharming, malware, DDoS, brute-force) and the matching protection methods appear in almost every paper.
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a security protocol that encrypts data sent between a web browser and a web server, so that intercepted data cannot be read.
When a browser connects to a secure site, the browser and server carry out an SSL handshake: they confirm each other's identity and agree on the keys used to encrypt the session. After the handshake, all data passing between them is encrypted, so even if it is intercepted it is meaningless to the attacker. A site protected by SSL shows https and a padlock symbol in the address bar. SSL is what makes activities such as online banking and shopping safe to carry out over the public internet.
Match each threat to a protection that actually stops it
What comes up: you are given a security threat (or asked to name one) and must describe a method that prevents that specific threat — the marks are for the correct pairing, not for listing security words.
Write: pair them, e.g. malware → anti-malware that scans files and downloads and removes anything malicious; hacking / unauthorised access → a firewall that monitors and filters the traffic passing into and out of the network against set criteria; phishing → check the sender and the URL are genuine and do not click unknown links; weak passwords / brute-force → strong passwords plus two-step (two-factor) authentication; data interception → encryption so intercepted data cannot be read.
Watch out: describe what the method does, not just its name — "a firewall" on its own usually scores nothing, whereas "a firewall that filters traffic entering and leaving the network" earns the mark. Keep the threat and its protection together so the examiner can see they match.