BTEC Firsts in ITUnit 1 – Communicating in the IT IndustryTask 4

Deadline•You have 4 weeks to complete this task

•You must ensure that you have:▫Completed all work▫Saved all work into your BTEC folder▫Uploaded all work to your Blog

•This must be finished by Fri 2nd Dec 2011

Scenario • You have already set up a Blog to upload all of

the documents that you have created so far and to report back to the UK whilst you are in Uganda.

• You have been asked to create a report for the IT Technicians at Calder High School that identifies common safety issues when using Blog’s and measures you have taken to protect your data.

• There are three different sections to this task

Task 4a – Pass Criteria

• For a Pass your report must identify common safety issues with using Blog’s and other specialist communication channels.

• You must also explain what measures you have taken to protect yourself and your data.

Task 4b – Merit Criteria • For Merit your report must explain why a Blog

has been fit for purpose. Your justification should show an understanding of user requirements and appropriate characteristics of the Blog.

• You must also show an awareness of the threats of IT, these include:▫cyber bullying, ▫spam, ▫phishing, ▫denial of service attacks

Task 4c – Distinction Criteria• For Distinction you need to produce a report

that explains what methods can be taken to ensure safety and security when setting up a Blog to communicate and exchange information.

• You should cover personal safety as well as the security of data being transferred.

• You must make sure that all of your explanations are detailed and thorough.

Format

• You will have to use different formats to present information to make it as interesting as possible for your audience.

• You will also have to use different formats depending on the type of information you need to present. This may include:▫ letters, ▫ emails, ▫ PowerPoint presentations, ▫ leaflets, ▫ reports, ▫ diagrams, images, charts and graphs, ▫ spreadsheets, ▫ databases, ▫ wikis, blogs, ▫ websites

•Discuss in pairs•When might these methods of

communication would be used?

▫Consider the scenario

▫Consider the target audience

•letters, emails, PowerPoint presentations, leaflets, reports, diagrams, images, charts and graphs, spreadsheets, databases, wikis, blogs, websites

Communicating and exchanging information:

•Documents can be enhanced to help communicate information more effectively.

•Images, screen prints, charts / graphs and diagrams can be more effective than long written explanations.

Documents• Some documents are word processed, for example, letters

and reports. Other documents are created using DTP software, for example, leaflets and brochures.

Presentations • Presentations are most commonly created in PowerPoint. A

presentation can support many different functions; to support a presentation you are delivering, to be displayed for people to watch continuously, or to be sent to people to watch at their leisure.

 Web pages• There are millions of web pages on the Internet that are used

to advertise, sell, educate, communicate, inform and so on. You can find information on practically anything you want on the WWW.

 Email• Via email you can send quick notes, lengthy information,

attach files and communicate with more than one person at a time. It is instant and convenient and is used by millions of people for both personal and business use.

Task 4 – Content • Common safety issues include: 

▫handling personal information▫viewing digital content▫uploading digital content▫respect towards others▫data protection regulations

• Measures for securing data include:▫encryption▫firewalls▫backups▫secure sites▫restricting access to documents

Personal Information• It is important to remember theta when adding

personal information to digital record / on the internet it is much less secure than if it was on paper. Digital information can be hacked into, stolen, copied and abused.

• Paedophiles and criminals use social networking sites, chat rooms, instant messaging, emails and so on to try to find people that they can abuse and take advantage of.

• Criminals use social networking sites to build up a profile of you – gathering your date of birth, town of birth, mother’s maiden name, pets name and so on - this can help them to figure out your password and log on details.

Viewing and uploading digital content

• When you upload any digital information to the internet you need to remember that it will be available for a large number of people to view. When you have uploaded images, videos and posts on Facebook you must remember that you are creating a digital footprint.

• It is very difficult to remove information from the

information from the internet after you have put it there – even if you delete it!

• Digital content that you upload to the internet may not be used for how you first intended – some employers might check your Facebook page before giving you a job.

• Remember – always check your privacy settings!!

Respect towards others

• It is important to be respectful towards others when communicating with people using the internet, especially when using social networking sites. Don’t upload something about someone else if you wouldn’t be happy about uploading it about yourself.

• If you cyber bully someone you can face

prosecution.

Data protection regulations• The Data Protection Act (1998) is a law designed to protect personal

data stored on computers or in an organised paper filing system. By law any company that stores information on people must register with the Information Commissioner and must follow the 8 Principles of the Data Protection Act:

1. Data must be collected and used fairly and inside the law. 2. It must only be held and used for the reasons given to the Information

Commissioner. 3. Data can only be used for the purpose of which it was collected. 4. The information held must be adequate, relevant and not excessive 5. It must be accurate and be kept up to date. 6. It must not be kept longer than is necessary for the registered

purpose7. The information must be kept safe and secure. This includes keeping

the information backed up and away from any unauthorised access. 8. The files may not be transferred outside of the European Economic

Area unless the country that the data is being sent to has a suitable data protection law.

For more detailed information visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/0dataprotectionactrev1.shtml

Securing DataEncryption• Encryption means to scramble a message in such a way

that only the people who are meant to read it can do so.

• A message sent 'in the clear' looks like: "This is a message anyone can read"

• The encrypted message looks like gibberish: fu11^&**$$HHPPHDYhg**&&£--20dkmama@()@88787399(&*&))**OJKK@_D

• Encryption works by both people making use of a secret 'key' that only they know (or at least their computers know). The original message is mixed in with the key to create a secret message. This is done by some very crafty mathematics so that it is very hard for someone to crack the code - very powerful computers working for a long time would be needed to crack a good code.

Backups • This means to make a copy of the data held on

the system in case the original data is lost or damaged.

• Backups can be made onto removable media such as CDs and removable hard disks and then stored away from the PC.

• This is useful if there were to be a fire/flood, if the PC were to be stolen or in the event of a hard disk failure. The original data files could then be restored. Backups can also be made to a different drive or file on the hard disk. It is important to keep regular backups.

Secure sites • Anytime a web page asks you for sensitive

information, you need to be able to identify if the page is secure or not.

• Always look for the padlock when browsing / purchasing online.

Abuse of ITThreats• The internet has many positive points, however with all

positives there are always negatives.

• The internet has opened up a whole array of dangers that we need to protect ourselves against.

• These threats include:▫ Cyber bullying▫ Spam▫ Phishing▫ Denial of service attacks

• Discuss in pairs – do you know what any of these are?

Cyber bullying• This is when the internet and mobile phones are used to deliberately upset someone. • Social networking sites are being used much

more frequently to bully people.

• Remember, everything you do online is recorded somewhere – if you try to bully someone anonymously there is a very high chance that you WILL be traced.

• Cyber bullying is taken very seriously by the police and can lead to prosecution.

Spam• Spam means sending massive amounts of electronic

junk mail that people haven't asked for.

• Many email packages offer 'spam filters' that try to prevent these emails getting through to your inbox, but it is a very difficult problem to separate spam from wanted emails.

• Your email service may have a ‘Junk’ box that contains the diverted spam. It is then up to you to have a look to see if there are some real emails accidentally caught by the filters.

• You should also be especially aware of any emails that contain attachments as they main contain viruses.

Phishing• “Phishing” is a form of Internet fraud where

criminals aim to steal valuable information such as credit cards, social security numbers, user IDs and passwords for bank accounts.

• They set up a fake website which looks identical to a legitimate company such as a bank or insurance company.

• They then try to trick people into logging into the site and giving their account details and security codes.

• Do not respond to any emails from your bank – you should either call the bank or log into your online banking.

Denial of service attacks• This is an illegal act, with the intent of disabling a

server.

• A server responds to external requests from its network. ▫ For example a web server responds to a browser

calling for a web page to be delivered from its hard drive.

• Each request takes a small amount of time and some CPU resources on the server.

• With a 'Denial of Service' attack, the server is overwhelmed by millions of rogue requests being sent, so it is effectively using up all its resources and denying normal service for legitimate users.

Task 4• A report is a formal document that is produced for

a specific audience – Calder High’s IT Technicians.

• A report is not an essay. It should contain headings, sub headings and main bodies of text. A report can also include diagrams, prints screen, charts and graphs and so on to back up your written works.

• Create you report in a blank word document and save into your Task 4 folder.

• A writing frame for P, M and D is available in Task 4 > Task 4 – Report Writing Frame

•You must also show evidence of:▫Spell check▫Using the thesaurus▫Setting up a table of contents

•Save your evidence into the template provided: Task 4 > Task 4 – Report Evidence