QUESTION 1.
1 (a) Four statements about cookies are shown in the table below.
Study each statement.
Tick (✓) to show whether the statement is true or false.
Statement True False
they are a form of spyware
they are used only in advertising
they are used to track browser use
they act in the same way as a virus
[4]
(b) Five descriptions and five security issues are shown below.
Draw a line to connect each description to the correct security issue.
Description Security issue
malicious code installed on the hard drive of a
user’s computer or on the web server; this code
hacking
will re-direct user to a fake web site without their
consent
software that gathers information by monitoring
key presses on a user’s computer and relays
pharming
the information back to the person who sent the
software
program or code that replicates itself and is
designed to amend, delete or copy data and files phishing
on a user’s computer without their consent
the act of gaining illegal access to a computer
spyware
system without the owner’s consent
creator of code sends out a legitimate-looking
email in the hope of gathering personal and
virus
financial data; it requires the recipient to follow a
link in the email or open an attachment
[4]
© UCLES 2015 0478/12/M/J/15
QUESTION 2. 10
8 (a) Five statements and three types of software are shown below.
Draw lines to connect each statement with the correct type of software.
Statement Type of software
Users have the freedom to pass on
the software to friends and family as
they wish.
Free software
Users can download this software free
of charge, but they cannot modify the
source code in any way.
Users are allowed to try out the
software for a trial period only before Freeware
being charged.
Users can study the software source
code and modify it, where necessary,
to meet their own needs, without
breaking copyright laws.
Shareware
Users can obtain a free trial version
of the software, but this often does
not contain all the features of the full
version.
[3]
© UCLES 2016 0478/12/M/J/16
11
(b) Describe three ethical issues that should be considered when using computers.
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3 ................................................................................................................................................
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[3]
(c) Security of data is very important.
Three security issues are viruses, pharming and spyware.
Explain what is meant by each issue.
Viruses: .....................................................................................................................................
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Pharming: .................................................................................................................................
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Spyware: ...................................................................................................................................
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[6]
© UCLES 2016 0478/12/M/J/16 [Turn over
12
(d) Describe three tasks carried out by a firewall.
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2 ................................................................................................................................................
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3 ................................................................................................................................................
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[3]
9 In the following barcode, each binary number is made up of seven bars.
Each bar is black or grey.
A black bar is interpreted as a “1” and a grey bar is interpreted as a “0”.
(a) Write the binary numbers that would be produced from this barcode:
%LQDU\QXPEHU$ %LQDU\QXPEHU%
Binary number A:
Binary number B:
[2]
(b) This barcode system uses odd parity.
Write the parity bit for each of the binary numbers in part (a):
Parity bit
Binary number A:
Binary number B:
[2]
© UCLES 2016 0478/12/M/J/16
QUESTION 3. 2
1 There are a number of security risks associated with using the Internet.
Name three of these risks. For each, state why it is a risk and describe how the risk can be
minimised.
Security risk 1 ...................................................................................................................................
Why it is a risk ..................................................................................................................................
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How to minimise the risk ..................................................................................................................
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Security risk 2 ...................................................................................................................................
Why it is a risk ...................................................................................................................................
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How to minimise the risk ..................................................................................................................
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Security risk 3 ...................................................................................................................................
Why it is a risk ..................................................................................................................................
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How to minimise the risk ..................................................................................................................
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[9]
© UCLES 2015 0478/12/O/N/15
QUESTION 4. 8
4 (a) Computer ethics involves a number of different topics.
(i) A student made the following statement on an examination paper:
“It allows a user to have the freedom to run, copy, change and adapt the software and
then pass it on to a colleague, friend or family member.”
Identify which computer term the student was describing.
...................................................................................................................................... [1]
(ii) Explain what is meant by computer ethics.
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(b) The four statements below refer to firewalls and proxy servers.
Study each statement.
Tick (9) the appropriate column(s) to indicate whether the statement refers to a firewall
and/or a proxy server.
Statement Firewall Proxy server
Speeds up access of information from a web server by
using a cache
Filters all Internet traffic coming into and out from a
user’s computer, intranet or private network
Helps to prevent malware, including viruses, from
entering a user’s computer
Keeps a list of undesirable websites and IP addresses
[4]
© UCLES 2015 0478/13/O/N/15
9
(c) Explain three ways of preventing accidental loss or corruption of data.
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3 ................................................................................................................................................
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[6]
© UCLES 2015 0478/13/O/N/15 [Turn over
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QUESTION 5. 3
2 An electronic guessing game compares denary integer values input by a user with pre-stored
values. The pre-stored values are held in 10-bit binary format.
(a) Convert the binary values in the table to denary.
Binary Denary
0001001110
0110110111
1000000001
[3]
(b) When planning the game, the designer decided to use hexadecimal notation to represent the
binary values.
Explain why the designer used hexadecimal notation.
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(c) State the hexadecimal equivalent of the binary value 1010110101
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3 A company has several offices. It uses the Internet to transfer data between offices. The company
also makes payments to staff and suppliers using online banking.
The company are concerned about spyware and other security aspects of using the Internet.
(a) Explain what is meant by spyware and how it is used to obtain data.
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............................................................................................................................................. [3]
© UCLES 2019 0478/11/O/N/19 [Turn over
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4
(b) The company uses a web page to log on to the online bank.
Identify one method that could be used by the online bank to reduce the impact of spyware
when logging on.
State how the method prevents the use of spyware.
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(c) The company has installed a firewall as part of its data security.
Describe how a firewall can help protect against unauthorised access to data.
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(d) State two other methods the company could use to help prevent unauthorised access to
data.
Method 1 ...................................................................................................................................
Method 2 ...................................................................................................................................
[2]
© UCLES 2019 0478/11/O/N/19
