TU170: Computing Essentials

Session 6

Chapter 9: Privacy, Security and Ethics

Prepared by
Amal Naji
Ahmad Khalaf

The contents of this presentation have been prepared from the study book of the TU170 course, Computer
essentials 2017.
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Why should I read this chapter?
 Right now, criminals are trying to break into your e-mail, your
online bank account, and even your cell phone. Organizations
are recording and analyzing your every digital decision,
leading many to believe that the future of the Internet will
result in the end of privacy as we know it.
 This chapter covers the things you need to know to be
prepared for this ever-changing digital world, including:
o Cybercrime—protect yourself from viruses, Internet
scams, and identity theft.
o Privacy rights—learn what companies can legally record
about your Internet usage and how they use that
information.
o Safe computing—avoid embarrassment and worse by
knowing the way Facebook and social networking share
your information.

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Learning Objectives
After you have read this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Identify the most significant concerns for effective implementation of
computer technology.
2. Discuss the primary privacy issues of accuracy, property, and access.
3. Describe the impact of large databases, private networks, the Internet,
and the web on privacy.
4. Discuss online identity and the major laws on privacy.
5. Discuss cybercrimes including creation of malicious programs such as
viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and zombies as well as denial of service
attacks, Internet scams, identity theft, cyberbullying, rogue Wi-Fi
hotspots, and data manipulation.
6. Detail ways to protect computer security including restricting access,
encrypting data, anticipating disasters, and preventing data loss.
7. Discuss computer ethics including copyright law, software piracy, digital
rights management, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as well as
plagiarism and ways to identify plagiarism.

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 People
 As we have discussed, information systems consist of
people, procedures, software, hardware, data, and
the Internet.
 This chapter focuses on people. While most everyone
agrees that technology has had a very positive
impact on people, it is important to recognize the
negative, or potentially negative, impacts as well.

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 Effective implementation of computer technology
involves maximizing positive effects while minimizing
negative effects.
 The most significant concerns are privacy, security
and ethics.
 Privacy – What are the threats to personal privacy
and how can we protect our selves?
 Security – How can access to sensitive information
be controlled and how can we secure hardware and
software?
 Ethics – How do the actions of individual users and
companies affect society?

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Privacy
 Technology makes it possible to collect and use date
of all kinds, including information about people.
◦ The Web sites you visit, the stores where you shop ….
 Privacy concerns the collection and use of data
about individuals.
 Three primary privacy issues:
◦ Accuracy: relates to the responsibility of those who
collect data to ensure that the data is correct.
◦ Property: relates to who owns data.
◦ Access: relates to the responsibility of those who have
data to control and able to use that data.

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Privacy: Large Databases
 Large organizations are constantly compiling
information about us.
 Everyday, data is gathered about us and stored in
large databases.
 A vast industry of data gatherers known as
information resellers or information brokers now
exists that collects, analyzes, and sells such personal
data.
 Information resellers create electronic profiles, or
highly detailed and personalized descriptions of
individuals.

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 These profiles can reveal more than you might wish
and this can raise many important issues, including:
 Collecting public, but personally identifying
information
 Spreading information without personal consent
 Spreading inaccurate information

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 Privacy: Private Networks
 Many organizations monitor employee email and
computer files using special software called
employee-monitoring software.
 These programs record everything you do on the
computer.

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Privacy: The Internet and the Web
 Most people do not concern about privacy When
sending e-mail on the Internet or browse the web.
 As long as they use their own computers and have
the choice to reveal their personal information,
they think that little can be done to invade their
personal privacy.
 Experts call this the illusion of anonymity.

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 When you browse the web, your browser stores
critical information onto your hard disk.
 This information, which contains records about your
Internet activities, includes:
1. History file, which includes the locations of sites
visited by your computer system.
2. Temporary Internet files, also known as the browser
cache, contain web page content and instructions for
displaying this content.

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• Another way your web activity can be monitored is
with cookies.
• Cookies are small data files that are deposited on your
hard disk from websites you have visited.
• Cookies are harmless in themselves, but they can store
information about you, your preferences, and your
browsing habits.
• Types of cookies:
 First-party: generated (and then read) only by the
website you are currently visiting.
 A third-party cookie (tracking cookies): is usually
generated by an advertising company that is affiliated
with the website you are currently visiting.

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Other threats can violate your privacy:
1. Web bugs, which are invisible images or HTML
code hidden within a web page or e-mail message,
can be used to transmit information without your
knowledge.
2. Spyware are programs designed to secretly record
and report an individual’s activities on the Internet.
 Many spyware programs go undetected, they run in
the background and Invisible to the average user.
 Example Computer monitoring software (keystroke
loggers): most dangerous type of spyware that record
every activity and keystroke made on your computer
system, including credit card numbers, passwords,
and e-mail messages.

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 Best defenses against spyware is to exercise caution
when visiting new websites and downloading software
from an unknown source.
 Another defense involves using antispyware or spy
removal programs, which are designed to detect and
remove various types of privacy threats.

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Privacy: Online Identity
 Another aspect of Internet privacy comes from
online identity.
 Online identity is the information that people
voluntarily post about themselves online.
 There are any number of cases of people who have
lost their jobs on the basis of posts on social
networking sites.

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Security
 We are all concerned with our personal security (e.g.
lock our doors), what about computer security?
 Computer hackers who gain unauthorized access to our
computer or other computers that contain information
about us.
 Security involves protecting individuals and
organizations from theft and danger.
 Computer security specifically focuses on protecting
information, hardware, and software from
unauthorized use, as well as preventing or limiting the
damage from intrusions, sabotage, and natural
disasters.

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 Security: Cybercrime
 Cybercrime or computer crime is any criminal offense
that involves a computer and a network.
 Cybercrimes can take various forms or examples:

• creating malicious programs • identity theft

• denial of service attacks • internet scams
• rogue Wi-Fi Hotspots • cyberbullying
• data manipulation

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 A cracker is someone who creates and distributes
malicious programs (malware).
 Malicious Programs: specifically designed to damage
a computer system.
 Malicious Programs types:
 viruses
 worms
 Trojan horses

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 Viruses are programs that migrate through networks
and operating systems and attach themselves to
programs and databases.
 Worms: unlike a virus, a worm typically does not
attach itself to a program or alter and/or delete files.
Simply, they replicate themselves over and over
again.
 Trojan horses are programs that appear to be
harmless; however, they contain malicious programs
like viruses.
 Zombie is a computer infected by a virus, worm or
Trojan horse that allows it to be remotely controlled
for malicious purposes.

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Computer crimes

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Ethics
 The essential element that controls how computers
are used is ethics.
 Ethics are standards of moral conduct.
 Computer ethics are guidelines for the morally
acceptable use of computers in our society.

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Ethics: Copyright and digital rights management

 Copyright is a legal concept that gives content

creators the right to control use and distribution of
their work.
 Material that can be copyrighted include paintings,
books, music, films and video games.
 Some users choose to make unauthorized copies of
digital media which violates copyright.
• Software piracy is an unauthorized copying or
distribution of software.
• To prevent copyright violations, corporations often
use digital rights management (DRM).
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Ethics : Plagiarism
 Plagiarism means representing some other person’s
work and ideas as your own without giving a credit to
the original source.
 computer technology has made it easier than ever to
recognize and catch plagiarists.
 For example, services such as Turnitin are dedicated
to preventing Internet plagiarism.
 Turnitin will examine the content of a paper and
compare it to a wide range of known public
electronic documents including web page content.

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 concept check
 Describe how large databases can effect our privacy.
 What is Information resellers? Electronic profiles?
 List three important issues related to electronic profiles.
 What is mistaken identity?
 What are private networks? What is employee-monitoring software? Is it legal?
 What is the illusion of anonymity?
 Define and compare history files and temporary Internet files.
 What is a cookie? A first-party cookie? A third-party cookie?
 What is a web bug? Spyware? Keystroke logger? Antispyware? Online identity?
 What are hackers? What is cybercrime? What are malicious programs?
 Compare viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. What are zombies?
 What are denial of service attacks? Rogue Wi-Fi hotspots? Data theft and manipulation?
 What is identity theft? Describe some common Internet scams. What is cyberbullying?
 What are encryption?
 Define physical security, data security, and disaster recovery plans.
 Describe how to prevent data loss.
 What is the distinction between ethics and computer ethics?
 Define copyright, software privacy, digital rights management.

 What is plagiarism? What is Turnitin and what does it do?

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