All topics › OCR GCSE Computer Science › Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities1.4.2 Identifying and preventing vulnerabilitiesOCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) · Computer systems (Paper 1) › Network security
Practise Identifying and preventing 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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Sample questions Written for this site in the style of OCR exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1 Easy 4 marks
(a) State what is meant by penetration testing.[1]
(b) Which method would best protect the equipment in a server room from theft?one box.[1]
A firewall Anti-malware software Encryption Physical security, e.g. locked doors and key cards (c) Give two features of a strong password.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme (a) an authorised, simulated attack on a system to find security weaknesses (b) Answer: Physical security, e.g. locked doors and key cards
(c) long, e.g. at least 8 characters a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols not a dictionary word / name / personal information not used for any other account Question 2 Medium 3 marks
Describe how a firewall helps to protect a network.[3]
Show the answer and mark scheme it monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic it checks packets against a set of rules, e.g. allowed IP addresses or ports it blocks traffic that does not meet the rules / prevents unauthorised access it can be hardware or software Question 3 Hard 5 marks
A bank hires a security company to carry out penetration testing on its systems.
(a) Explain the purpose of penetration testing.[2]
(b) The bank gives the testers no information about its systems. Explain why.[2]
(c) Explain why the testers must have written permission from the bank before they start.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme (a) to find vulnerabilities / weaknesses in the system so they can be fixed before criminals find and exploit them (b) this simulates an attack by an outsider / hacker who has no inside knowledge so it shows what a real external attacker could discover and do (c) without permission, accessing the systems would be unauthorised access, which is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 Related subtopics
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