Practise Malware, social engineering and technical vulnerabilities. 11 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
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Define the term 'malware'.
Software designed to cause harm, e.g. damage systems or steal data.
An attacker leaves several USB flash drives labelled 'Staff salaries 2026 – confidential' in a company's car park. One employee finds a drive and plugs it into their work computer. Identify the social engineering technique being used.
Baiting
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of Edexcel exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy3 marks
(a) Define the term 'malware'.[1]
(b) Identify the type of malware that records the keys that a user presses.[1]
Worm
Key logger
Ransomware
Virus
(c) Define the term 'shoulder surfing'.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Software designed to cause harm, e.g. damage systems or steal data.
malicious software: software designed to damage or disrupt a computer system, gain unauthorised access to it or steal data
(b)Answer: Key logger
(c)Answer: Watching someone type a PIN or password to steal it.
watching someone (directly or using a camera) as they enter a PIN or password, in order to steal it
Question 2Medium4 marks
Explain the difference between a virus and a worm.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
Answer: A virus hides in a host file and spreads when users open or share it; a worm is standalone and spreads itself across networks automatically.
a virus attaches itself to a legitimate program or file
it spreads when the infected file is opened or run and then copied or shared, so it needs a user action
a worm is a standalone program that does not need a host file
it copies itself and spreads across networks automatically, e.g. by exploiting vulnerabilities, without any user action
worms can spread very quickly and use up network bandwidth, slowing networks down
Question 3Hard4 marks
A hospital's computers were infected with ransomware after a member of staff opened an attachment in an email. Staff could not access patient records for three days.
(a) Explain how the ransomware is likely to have infected the hospital's computers.[2]
(b) Explain why the attack had such a serious impact on the hospital.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: The disguised attachment ran the ransomware when opened, and it spread across the network encrypting files.
the email attachment contained the ransomware, disguised as a genuine document (phishing / Trojan)
when the attachment was opened, the ransomware ran, encrypted files and spread across the network to other computers and shared drives
(b)Answer: Without records, care was delayed and patient safety put at risk, with costly disruption and possible data loss.
staff could not see patient records, test results or appointments, so treatment was delayed and patients' safety was at risk
operations may have been cancelled and patients sent elsewhere, and recovery was costly; if data was stolen, it was also a data protection breach