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JA1. Learning Journal 1

Statement

In this unit, we learned about computer network security needs, challenges, and some most common threats. Reflect on what you have learned, by answering each of the following questions:

  1. Describe the most interesting topic you learned about in this unit. Think about reasons why you noticed this topic, your impression, your plans for further exploration of that topic
  2. Describe why learning basic cybersecurity skills is important for anyone using a digital device, networks, and the internet? Describe some of the cybersecurity concerns related to using digital devices for both personal and business needs
  3. Describe the challenges you face when securing access and use of your digital devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones. Explain what you do to protect your data and digital devices from unauthorized access both physically and virtually (online). Do you think you are secure or do you need to do more to secure your devices and/or improve your practices? - yes/no? Give rationale to support your answer.

Solution

Task 1: The most interesting topic

The most interesting part of this weeks learning was the part of (Thomas et al, 2020, Computer Threats) where the authors gave a great and concise description for 30 different computer threats. Prior to reading ths chapter, all of these threats were just viruses or malware to me; and I’ve tried to know the meaning of these words before but I was always reaching a dead end due to a confusing or very long description.

I feel happy now that I know what virus, worm, trojan, ransomware, spyware, adware, rootkit, backdoor, botnet, and many other threats are; but I think I still need to develop un understanding of how to face each type of these threats. I believe that this course will set me on the right path to do so.

Task 2: Why learning basic cybersecurity skills is important

I work as a web developer for three years now, and the more I know about security and potential threats, the more I feel responsible, and that is being reflected on the code that I generate and how I handle users interactions with the web applications that I develop.

According to (NCSC, 2023), they issued 24.5 million notifications about potential threats in 2023; thus, the risk is real and increasing; and it is important to raise the everybody’s awareness about the importance of cybersecurity, so they can protect themselves and their businesses by acting correctly at the time of incident.

So, teaching cybersecurity skills is important to know the how to respond to an incident, and makes it harder for you to being a victim of a cyber attack or fraud; especially with everything now is connected to the internet from phones, to TVs, to cars and even home appliances.

Task 3: Challenges you face when securing access and use of your digital devices

As I said earlier, I work as a web developer, and the more I know the more I take my safety and the safety of the users of my apps seriously. I used to use the default browser functionality to save passwords, but I heard that it saves them in plain text on a local file, so I switched to use a cloud-based password manager, which is more secure and convenient; I’m also convinced that this increases the confidentiality as it limits access to my passwords to only me.

At work, I used to trust my colleagues, and leave my laptop unlocked when I go for a quick break; but after reading about the social engineering threat, I started to lock my laptop every time I leave my desk, and I’m also convinced that this increases the integrity of my data as I’m 100% sure all modifications are done by me personally.

I also used to use the same password everywhere as it is easier to remember, but after reading about the password cracking threat, I started to rely heavily on password managers, as they increase availability of my data by only exploiting one account instead of all of them if the hackers were able to crack a single password.

References