KASNEB DICT study guide
KASNEB DICT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Diploma in Information Communication Technology (DICT) is a diploma-level qualification offered within the Kasneb qualification framework. Kasneb is a State Corporation under The National Treasury and Economic Planning, established by the Government of Kenya in 1969, and its mandate covers the development of syllabuses, the conduct of professional, diploma and technician examinations, and the certification of candidates in accountancy, finance, credit, governance and management, information technology and related disciplines. The KASNEB DICT study guide has 9 sections and about 3,146 words.
01ICT Fundamentals and Office Applications
Data are raw, unprocessed facts and figures. Information is data processed into a meaningful form, and knowledge is information combined with experience and judgement.
312 words, about 2 min02Computer Hardware, Operating Systems and Maintenance
The CPU executes instructions through the fetch–decode–execute cycle. Its parts are the arithmetic logic unit (calculations and comparisons), the control unit (directs operations) and registers such as the accumulator, program counter, instruction register and memory address/data registers.
674 words, about 3 min03Computer Networks and Internet Technologies
Physical layouts include bus, star, ring, mesh, tree and hybrid; star dominates LANs because one cable failure affects only one node. Networks are classed as PAN, LAN, MAN and WAN, with VPNs providing secure tunnels over public links.
301 words, about 2 min04Programming and Software Development
Development runs through requirements, design, coding, testing, deployment and maintenance. Waterfall is sequential and documentation-heavy; prototyping builds a working model for feedback; the spiral model is risk-driven; agile delivers in short iterations or sprints.
305 words, about 2 min05Database Management Systems
A relational database stores data in tables (relations) made of rows (tuples) and columns (attributes). A superkey uniquely identifies a row; a candidate key is a minimal superkey; the primary key is the chosen candidate and must be unique and not null; alternate keys are the candidates not chosen; a composite key spans two or more attributes; a foreign key references a primary key in another table and enforces referential integrity.
330 words, about 2 min06Systems Analysis and Design
Phases are problem recognition, feasibility study, requirements analysis, system design, development, testing, implementation, and review and maintenance. Methods include waterfall, prototyping, RAD, JAD, spiral and agile.
284 words, about 1 min07Information Systems Security, Audit and Controls
Security rests on the CIA triad: confidentiality, integrity and availability, supported by authentication, authorisation, non-repudiation and accountability. Threats include viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, logic bombs, phishing, social engineering, denial of service, man-in-the-middle attacks and SQL injection, plus physical and human threats.
295 words, about 1 min08Web Development and Multimedia Applications
HTML structures content, CSS controls presentation and JavaScript adds behaviour in the browser. Server-side languages such as PHP, Python, Java and Node.js generate pages, query databases and enforce business logic.
324 words, about 2 min09Professional Ethics, Entrepreneurship and ICT Project Management
Professional codes demand integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, competence and professional behaviour. Candidates must know computer misuse and criminal law, intellectual property (copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, software licences), and data protection principles: lawful and fair collection, purpose limitation, accuracy, security, limited retention and data-subject rights.
321 words, about 2 min