Networks

=Networks=

Social and ethical issues
Students must study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of networks. These may include:
 * vulnerability of networks to intrusion
 * ability to implement different levels of access
 * implications of network failure, for example, banks, transportation, hospitals, schools
 * implications of collaboration, groupware and data sharing
 * threat of compromising data integrity in shared databases
 * additional threats to privacy on a network compared with stand-alone computers
 * the need to authenticate information
 * intellectual property protection on networks, for example, site licences, file access
 * equality of access for different groups and individuals
 * ability to monitor users (surveillance); concerns of people regarding monitoring
 * ability to filter incoming data
 * ability to control personal, business, military, government operations over a wide geographical area
 * increased globalization, for example, EFT, EDI, e-commerce
 * need for interface standards
 * need for network use policy.

Knowledge of technology
In order to study and evaluate the social and ethical issues involved in the use of networks the student must have an understanding of related technological concepts. These may include:
 * key terms—LAN, WAN, client, server, Ethernet, access, access permissions, login, password, firewall, sysadmin, UPS, EDI
 * types of intrusion, for example, viruses, hacking, phreaking
 * security measures
 * network types, for example, Intranet, Internet, VPN
 * encryption and SSL
 * e-commerce.