GCSE Computer Science (Pearson IGCSE)

Topic Summaries

COMPUTER SYSTEMS: Threats to computer systems and networks

Identifying vulnerabilities

Prevention methods	What it prevents	How it works
Penetration testing	Identifies security flaws, social engineering weaknesses, poor recovery planning	Simulates real attacks to test defences May test users’ susceptibility to scams and ability to recover after attack
Network policies	Enforces good security practices across users and devices	Sets rules for passwords, access, software, backups, testing, and firewall use to reduce vulnerabilities
Network forensics	Helps trace and analyse past attacks to prevent repeats	Monitors and stores traffic Analyses unusual activity to find attack source and improve security strategy
Anti-malware software	Blocks/detects/removes malware (e.g. viruses, backdoors, spyware)	Uses signatures and behaviour-based detection Scans files and running apps Quarantines threats
Firewalls	Blocks DoS attacks, spyware, external hacking attempts, and malware data leaks	Inspects network traffic Uses filtering rules (packet, IP, port-based) to block harmful packets or data leaks
User access levels	Prevents unauthorised access, software installation, and insider misuse	Assigns permissions to groups/users so they can only access necessary files/features, limiting accidental/malicious use
Passwords	Protects against unauthorised access and brute-force attacks	Should be strong, long, secret, and regularly changed Weak on their own but useful with other methods
Encryption	Protects data in transit and storage from being read if intercepted	Scrambles data using large prime number based keys Only decryptable with the correct key Used in VPNs, WPA2, etc.

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