That Blue Square Thing - AQA Computer Science GCSE

Syllabus content:

Unit 6 content - PDF doc to download and print

Note: this syllabus content is a slightly amended version of the one published freely on the web by AQA. I have made very minor adjustments to remove some content less suitable for students to use and it is presented here simply to allow the children I teach to download a usable copy of the syllabus content. It is copyright AQA and reproduced here simply to make access easier for students. No attempt to claim copyright is being made, although I could have copied the text into my own interpretation...

AQA Computer Science GCSE

May 2019: this area of the site is being built just now. I’m making progress but there are areas where there is no content yet. That will get added over the next 6 months or so.

Cyber Security

Cyber security is a major issue. It's all about how we protect computer systems and our data from attack and damage.

In a modern world that's increasingly dependent on computer systems and the data they store and process, it's vital that we're able to use those systems whenever we need to. But there are all sorts of reasons why they might be under attack and ways we might lose control of our data.

Note that there are strong links in this unit to Network Security and the Unit 7 - Ethics: hacking and cracking section. These parts of Unit 7 could well be the focus for longer questions on Paper 2.

What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security Headlines - mostly from 2019 (created 27 March 2019)

You need to know a quite complex definition of cyber security and to describe what the main purposes of security are. This topic crosses over with the network security part of the Unit 5 - Networks module and gets into some of the parts of Unit 7 - Ethics as well.

Cyber Security Intro - intro slides from class

There are six cyber security threats that you need to understand about.

Cyber Security Threats - slides from class

Cyber Security Textbook Spread - notes on some details and plenty of activities

Password Security - slides from class

Penetration Testing - summary slides

Threats Table - a writing frame to help structure this if you need it

Some web links to stories from the resources:

The Quiet War Squirrels Are Waging on U.S. Stock Exchanges - The Atlantic, July 2015
Internet service is back for about 200 homes in Holbeach St Johns after attempted theft of fibre optic cables - Spalding Today, February 2019
Report Cable Theft - from BT Openreach