Communicating in the IT Industry Lecture 8: Safety Zatil Ridh'wah Hj Darot

Safety: Learning objectives Personal Information Uploading and viewing digital content Respect towards others Data protection regulations Securing data

Personal information Electronic communications are quick and easy, but they also involve real dangers. Unlike paper-based records, electronic personal records can easily be transferred, stolen and misused. You need to remember _________ with your personal information, as not everyone is who they say they are on the Internet. Pedophiles and other criminals trawl social networking sites and IM (instant messenger) services looking for gullible people to take advantage of.

Criminals have been known to use social networking sites to collect information about passwords. For example, many people use their mother’s maiden name or their _________ as a password, and this information can sometimes be found on an individual’s pages on a social networking site. Although you may think you are well aware of the dangers, you should always be on guard. Think carefully before giving someone your phone number or address or, worse still, agreeing to meet them in person.

Uploading and viewing digital content When you upload digital content (such as photos and videos) to the Internet, remember that these often become ________________ , not just your friends and family. This material may therefore be used in ways that you did not originally intend. For example, employers might check the Facebook pages of people applying for jobs to check their character.

Respect towards others It is important to __________ the people that you communicate with on social networking sites. Negative or offensive comments can be seen by a much wider audience than you might imagine.

Data protection regulations Data Protection Act (1998) In the UK personal information about living individuals is protected by the Data Protection Act (1998). This law requires any company that keeps personal information about people on its computers to register with the Data Protection Registrar and to keep the eight Data Protection Principles. These principles are: Data may only be used for the purposes for which it was collected. Data must not be passed on to other people ____________ of the person whom it is about. People have a right of access to the information held about them. Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date.

Personal information may not be sent outside Europe unless the person whom it is about has agreed. All organizations that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Organizations that keep personal information are required to have ___________in place. People have the right to have incorrect information about them corrected.

Securing data Encryption This is a method of encoding data so that only the intended recipient can decode it. For example, you can encrypt data on the hard drive of your computer so that if it is stolen the data cannot be read. You can also use encryption when connecting to the Internet over a wireless link. This is very important if you are sending ________ or confidential information (for example, Internet banking passwords and security information), as it is possible for other people to intercept wireless communications and misuse any information they collect.

Firewalls A firewall is a piece of software (or sometimes a dedicated hardware device) that examines all data arriving on your computer or network from the Internet and rejects any that break the firewall rules. This can _________ computers from becoming infected by certain types of viruses. Firewalls also help prevent hackers from gaining unauthorized access to systems.

Backups No method can guarantee to prevent data being lost or corrupted, so making regular backups is essential to keep important data safe. Secure sites When sending ___________ over the Internet (for example, entering passwords or credit card details on a web page), it is important that the page you are using is secure. Secure web pages encrypt the data you send so that if anyone else intercepts it they cannot view it.