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GCSE Computer Science/Paper 1/Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities

Passwords

Common prevention methods: Passwords

1.4.2 Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities

Practise exam questions

Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities — Note 6 of 8

What you need to know

Passwords protect user accounts and systems by ensuring only authorised users can log in. Strong passwords are long, complex, and difficult to guess, making brute-force attacks much harder.

What to know

  • Strong passwords should be: long, contain a MIX of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols, and be HARD TO GUESS.
  • Help prevent: brute-force attacks, unauthorised access to accounts.
  • Passwords should be changed regularly and not reused across multiple accounts.

Key terms

Exam tipCommon mistake

Password

A secret string of characters used to verify a user's identity and protect access to accounts and systems.

  • Exam tip: If asked how to make passwords more secure, mention: LENGTH, COMPLEXITY (mix of character types), avoiding dictionary words, and not reusing passwords.

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Practise 1.4.2 questions
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Back to Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities

Revise another OCR GCSE topic: Threats to computer systems and networks

Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities

Note 6 of 8

  1. 1Common prevention methods
  2. 2Penetration testing
  3. 3Anti-malware software
  4. 4Firewalls
  5. 5User access levels
  6. 6Passwords
  7. 7Encryption
  8. 8Physical security
Topic overview

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