Computing in Context
The Computing in Context domain tests whether you can apply technical knowledge to real situations: law, ethics, security, networks and emerging technology. Answers must be specific to the scenario, not general statements about computers.
Law and ethics
In Malta, the Data Protection Act implements the GDPR: personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently, collected for specified purposes, minimised, kept accurate, retained no longer than necessary, and secured. Individuals have rights of access, rectification and erasure. Copyright protects expression, not ideas, and software licences define permitted use. Legal and ethical are not synonyms, since something can be legal but unethical.
Security
The CIA triad, confidentiality, integrity and availability, frames most questions. Authentication uses something you know, have or are, and multi-factor authentication combines different categories. Symmetric encryption uses one shared key (fast, but has a key distribution problem); asymmetric encryption uses a public/private key pair (slow, but solves distribution); hashing is one-way and checks integrity, and is not encryption.
Networks and cloud
Packet switching splits messages into packets that are routed independently. DNS resolves names to IP addresses, and HTTPS encrypts HTTP using TLS. Cloud service models are IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, and responsibility is shared: the provider secures the infrastructure while the customer secures their data and access.
Worked example
An employee receives an email claiming to be from IT and asking them to reset a password via a link. Indicators: an unexpected request, urgency, a lookalike domain and a generic greeting. Controls: verify through a separate channel, inspect the link target, use multi-factor authentication, and report the message to IT. This is phishing, and the weakness targeted is human rather than the firewall.
Traps
- Saying hashing is a form of encryption.
- Assuming HTTPS guarantees a trustworthy site.
- Claiming cloud computing removes all customer responsibility.
- Answering an ethics question with legality alone.