A bad week at Harbour Books
Harbour Books is a made-up online shop with eight staff. In one week a worker opens a fake email, a laptop goes missing and the shared drive stops working.
The owner asks you three things. What went wrong? What would have stopped it? What rules should staff follow now? This lesson helps you revise the answers.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can match each threat to a protection and a policy for a small organisation.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Threat | something that could harm a system or its data |
| Risk | how likely a threat is and how bad it would be |
| Protection | something that lowers a risk |
| Malware | software made to cause harm |
| Phishing | a fake message that tricks you into giving details |
| Firewall | a filter that blocks unwanted network traffic |
| Network | devices joined so they can share data |
| Encryption | scrambling data so only the right people can read it |
| Two-step verification | two separate checks, such as a password and a code |
| Backup | a spare copy of your data in another place |
| Policy | a written rule an organisation expects people to follow |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Revise by working from threat to rule
A good answer on security follows a short chain. Name the threat. Say what it could do. Name a protection that stops it or lessens it. Then say which rule keeps staff doing the right thing.
Look at the table. It shows the chain for four threats. Try covering the two right columns and saying them from memory.
From threat to protection to policy
| Threat | What it could do | Protection | Policy rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phishing email | Steal a password | Training, two-step verification | Report odd emails at once |
| Malware in an attachment | Lock or spy on files | Antivirus, updates, firewall | No unknown attachments |
| Lost or stolen laptop | Show private data | Disk encryption, strong login | Report losses at once |
| A staff mistake or a fire | Destroy data | Backups kept off-site | Back up on a set schedule |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check
Have a go
Check
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.