10.8 Information Systems, Malpractice and Crime

Computer crime is any crime that has been committed using a computer as the principle tool.

• fraud
• company espionage
• viruses
• malcious vandelism
• theft of information

Malpractice is behaviour that is legal but goes against a professional code of practice.

• British Computer Society or individual company codes of conduct
• leaving your computer terminal open and unattended
• poorly chosen password
• looking at inproper websites
• using computer system for personal use

Crime and Malpractice is on the way up because we use and rely on computers more and more.

• Amazon.co.uk - relies on the Internet, without it, there is no business.
• Terrorism - espionage
• ATM machines and on-line banking

Weak Points of IT systems:

• data being wrongly entered into a system
• access to data stored online
• access to data stored offline such as on floppy disk
• viruses
• data being transmitted using a network
• internal staff not following procedures

Weak point can be reduced by:

• physical security
• internal procedures and codes of conduct
• encrypting vital information
• user ID's and passwords
• access levels
• firewalls
• antivirus software
• biometric security
• vetting potential employees

10.6 Holiday homework - w/s 22/10/07

1. Produce a revision poster on A4 paper illustrating the advantages and drawbacks of on-line retail (p54 in text book)
2. Using the Wiki, produce a paper revision guide to the essential terminology to this unit.
3. Create an end of unit summary sheet for 10.6
4. Answer the following exam questions:

1) A local college has started running its courses online.

Describe:
a) 2 advantages to a learner of following an online course (4)
b) 1 drawback to a learner of following an online course (2)
c) 2 advantages to the course organisers at the college of providing a course online (4)


2) Many organisations have adopted email as a method of communication only to find that it can have disadvantages.

Describe 3 disadvantages of the use of email, other than contracting virus, for business communication. (6)


3) A large clothing retailer has decided to set up an online store.

a) Explain 2 disadvantages to the retailer of using this method of selling as opposed to selling from a high street shop (4)
b) Explain 1 advantage to the customer of using the online store rather than a high street shop (2)
c) State 1 disadvantage to the customer of using the online store rather than a high street shop (1)
d) Describe 2 ways in which the retailer could make use of the Internet to publicise its new service. (4)

10.6 Interesting communication stories

1. Streaming TV - The future of the net?
2. Nambias communication solution
3. Connecting the home of the future
4. Next step for mobile media
5. On-line pirates
6. Beating congestion with mobiles
7. Telemedicine
8. Web 2 Oh

10.5 Teleworking

• Teleworking involves carrying out work away from the office and communicating with the employer through the use of computer and telecommunications equipment.

• Often teleworkers are based at home, but they can also work from telecentres, satellite offices or even on the move.

Benefits of teleworking (FAT DOG):

• (F) Flexible working - can fit family duties into the daily schedule
• (A) More Attention and concentration may occur due to not being in a noisy office
• (T) No Travel costs or time
• (D) Workers with Disabilities can have the same opportunities to work
• (O) Saves on expensive Office space, heat and light
• (G) Geographical limitations removed when looking for employees

Drawbacks of teleworking (SMITH):

• (S) Stress caused by difficulty in separating work with home life
• (M) Difficult to Monitor and control staff
• (I) Employees may feel Isolated
• (T) Reduced sense of Team loyalty and belonging leading to reduced motivation
• (H) Employees may find it harder to seek Help
  

10.6 Essential terminolgy

• The Internet
• The World Wide Web
• Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
• Internet Browser
• Domain name
• Domain Name Server (DNS)
• Router
• Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• Narrowband
• Broadband
• Search engine
• E-Commerce
• Video Conferencing
• Intranet
• Extranet
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
• Email

• How to view a webpage

10.6 The World Wide Web

The Internet was growing as more and more networks were being joined together. However it was only being used by the military and academics due to it's compliexity.

In 1990 an Englishman known as Dr Tim Berners-Lee developed a simple document formatting language called 'HTML' which enabled documents to be stored on the fledgling Internet and to link to other documents using 'Hyperlinks'. He also developed an application to read these documents called a 'Browser'.

Due to the simplicity and huge scope of these inventions there are billions of websites all around the World written by anybody with a connection to the Internet.

The linking of these websites to other websites means there is a web of links spanning the globe. This is known as the World Wide Web.

10.6 The Internet

The start of the network which is now known as The Internet was first developed in the 1950's by the US Defence.

It wanted to be able to link their missile bases around the US to be able to strike back at anybody that fired missiles at them. They wanted to remove any possibility of problems so built in 'redundancy'. They created a 'mesh network'.

Other countries around the World developed similar national networks and when IBM linked the US to the UK via a trans-Atlantic cable called FatPipe in the early 1980's, the International Network was born - the Internet.