By Andrew Ranson

Remembers every key pressed by the computer operator

Sometimes used for illegal purposes e.g. Stealing passwords or encryption keys

Can be used by organisations to check productivity or for security purposes to see if someone is accessing something they’re not allowed to or if they are installing or downloading viruses on the computers

Checks the networks functionality and analyses network performance and speeds

Also can check networks for illegal activities completed by users currently connected to and using the network

Checks the authentication of the software to make sure the software is legitimate and legal

If the software is found to be illegal of illegitimate, the software may become locked and unusable or the software may have restricted functionality and usability

Like network monitoring software only it monitors all current activities on the One system

Also monitors more technical details such as system temperatures, fan RPM and memory usage.

Converts files and data into a code that is only readable if you have the key to decrypt the code of a high grade decryption program

Encrypting data prevents it from being read by other people if they do end up getting their hands on it.

Encryption and Decryption can be long and tedious but is well worth it for security reasons

Software that prevents the installation of viruses on the computer.

Viruses can do anything from editing a few small files all the way to completely corrupting critical system files and software.

Malware (Malicious Software) is basically a collective term for software that is designed to cause damage to a system

Malware includes:◦ Viruses◦ Worms◦ Trojan Horses◦ Spyware

Anti-malware software aims to prevent this malicious software from infecting the system

Anti-spyware software prevents the installation of the potentially highly destructive software known as spyware.

Spyware as the name suggests is used to spy on the programs and tasks used by the system which it has infected

Spyware can give another system partial control over the system it is installed on and allow them to install other software like viruses on the system

Spyware can also collect data from the infected system and transfer it to another system.

A Firewall is designed to restrict or allow data transfer over a network

Firewalls are based on a trust system, where things like Internal Networks have a high trust level and data is allowed to be transferred while the Internet on the other hand has a low trust level and less to no data is permitted to be transferred.