AS ICT Unit 2 - Living in the Digital World

9. ICT Systems and their Components

10. Data & Information

11. People & ICT Systems

12. Transfer of Data in ICT

13. Safety & Security of ICT Systems

14. Procedures for Backup & Recovery

15. Uses of ICT Systems

16. Factors & Consequences of ICT

2-14 Data Loss WebQuest

The Scenario
Name of the organisation	Mukilteo City Council
Type of organisation, for example, public company, government organisation, public utility	Government Organisation (Council)
What happened?	All of the city’s important data and computer information is wiped out.
What caused the incident?	A server failure as Dave Varga, Mukilteo's information technology director, left his office station in order to work on a fibre-optic line.
How did it affect the organisation?	All of the city’s data referring to planning and financial documents, ordinances, resolutions and city council meeting minutes was lost. Meaning city control was at a standstill.
How did it affect their customers/clients?	As the loss was for only a week,  there was little effect to the public of Mukilteo, and the council was able to resume as normal.
Was data lost?	100% of data was lost.
How did the organisation overcome the problem?	The city paid $36,000 to a Minnesota firm to retrieve the data, and about 95 percent of it was recovered.  The City Council plans on spending about $180,000 for an entirely new system, to prevent a similar system failure.
Was there anything else the organisation could do?	To prevent the same loss happening, large amounts of often backups should be created and stored in a safe location e.g. safe.

2-14 Backup and Recovery

A backup is simply an extra copy of data. So if data becomes corrupt or lost/stolen, it can be recovered.

A backup a recovery strategy is vital within any organisation.

Companies that have large data loss, 6% survive

Data could be:
        - Stolen 6%
        - Lost to diasaster 2%
        - Human error 32%
        - Hardware + Software error 38%

Backup media (storage)
        - USB Stick
        - CD and DVD
        - External Hard Drive

Organisations commonly backup to large hard drives in another remote location.

RAID Systems - instant backups in real time. Basically a massive amount of cheap hard drives that instantly copy the data.

DAT tapes - Removable media with a large capacity. Now surpassed by hard drives

Cloud - Remote backing up of data via the internet. The cloud is a concept and made up of various hard drives across the globe Eg. a word document sent to your own e-mail is store in the "cloud"; accessable from anywhere in the world. If you deleted it from all computers, it would still be avaliable from the internet

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Backup Strategy

What files should be backed up?
Who is resposible?
When will the backups be done?
Where will the backups be kept?
Which backupmedia will be used?

Recovery Strategy

What files, OS and software/applications will need to be recovered?
Who is resposible?
When will the deadlines for recovery be?
Where are recovery offices and computer equiptment
How will we ensure continuity of service

Types of Backup
Type of Backup	Time to Backup	Full Restoration Time	Storage Space
Full – All data is backed up.	A long time as all data is saved.	Very fast as a full restore is complete in one go.	Very large size commonly stored on a removable hard drive.
Differential – Data that has changed since the last full backup.	A medium amount of time as a large group of data is saved.	A medium amount of time as a full restoration would be done in a few large chucks.	A medium size stored either on a large memory stick or a DVD
Incremental – Data that has changed since any other backup.	A short amount of time as small files and documents are saved.	A very long time as a full restoration would be done in very small amounts at a time.	The smallest with only a few files on a small USB stick

2-13 Threats to ICT Systems

Threats to ICT Systems

Disgruntled Employees: Employees who might be having a bad day might feel inclined to mess with their company's files, this is a serious threat. Same for employees resigned, fired or retired, they will need their access removed.

This can be prevented with controlled procedures prevent access to these employees or ex-employees.

Example: In some establishments, an employee who has been sacked would be escorted by security to avoid them access files.

Untrained Staff: Staff who have not been sufficuently trained might have the pontential to overwrite, change or delete important files.

This can be prevented with sufficient training including additional training with more up-to-date software and programs.

Example: A new employee carries out his work as instructed but when he save, he overwrites exsisting files.

Viruses: Small programs which can be insterted into computer systems designed to carry out destruction tasks such as deleting, changing or freezing files and software. 

These can be avoided by installing an Anti-virus software package. Subscription packages are best as they update alongside new viruses.

Example: An employee brings in a memory stick which contains a virus designed to delete data. This enters the company's system and every computer is infected.

Spyware: Remote software which accesses a computer, monitoring all of the actions carried out by that computer (Spying)

This can be prevented by using an Anti-virus software package. These packages handle both Viruses and spyware.

Example: Software log all key strokes entered into a computer. This then displays and user id s and passwords, with the website or files they were used.

Hackers: People who gain unauthorised access to computers remotely, Altering and deleteing files and viewing privates items.

Preventable with user IDs and passwords, making the hackers task much harder and near impossible without expert tools.

Example: Someone could "hack" into a companys income to see where their business comes from and take advantage of this information for their own company.

Computer Misuse Research Task

Gerald Wandra - US

Unauthorized access to computers at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York and a Los Angeles bank.

Two years probation.

Chad Davis - US

Intentionally hacking a protected computer and wilfully causing damage.

Six months in prison, US$8,054 in restitution and three years probation

Robert Tappan Morris - US

Intentional access of federal interest computers without authorization thereby preventing authorized access and causing a loss in excess of US$1,000

Three years probation and 400 hours of community service.

2-13 Computer Misuse Act 1990

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

     An Act to make provision for securing computer material against unauthorised access or modification; and for connected purposes.

        Offences:

- Unauthorised access to material | Max. 6 months imprisonment and/or £5000 fine.
        Example: An employee accessing a companies database to view their colleages' pay.

- Unauthorised access with intent | Max. 5 years imprisonment and/or unlimited fine.
        Example: A person hacks into their own back account details intending to change their balance.

- Unauthorised modification | Max. 5 years imprisonment and/or unlimited fine.
        Example: A hacker vandilises a website from another computer.

        

2-12 Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer

       A peer-to-peer network is any network which doesn't use a server. 

       Usually from 2 to 5 computer, otherwise the network will become too slow to use without a central server.

       They are self-installed most commonly for domestic use, to share files and peripherals such as printers, however some small business use them as they are much cheaper than client-server networks.

        The most popular way of setuping up a peer-to-peer network is to have a few computer connected through a hub (a non-intelligent switch)