Digital technology, privacy and cyber security
Digital technology has transformed how we live and work — but it also raises real questions about who can see our data and how safe it is.
Part of your national curriculum
- Computer systems and networks: Understand the impact of digital technology on wider society, including issues of individual privacy and cyber security
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand the impact of digital technology on wider society, including issues of individual privacy and cyber security
Key learning points
- • Benefits and risks of digital technology
- • Privacy
- • Cyber security basics
This lesson at a glance
- 26 minutes
- 13 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 13
Watch first
Digital technology, privacy and cyber security
An English teaching video on this topic from CrashCourse. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Understand the impact of digital technology on wider society, including issues of individual privacy and cyber security
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 13
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Benefits and risks of digital technology
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 13
Learn
Benefits and risks of digital technology
Technology enables remote working, instant communication and access to information worldwide, but it can also increase inequality (the 'digital divide'), enable surveillance and spread misinformation faster than it can be checked.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 13
Learn
Privacy
Apps and websites often collect personal data such as location, browsing habits and contacts. Privacy settings, reading permissions before accepting them, and understanding what a company does with your data all help you stay in control.
Quick check
Part 5 of 13
Quick check
What is the 'digital divide'?
Reset break
Part 6 of 13
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 7 of 13
Quick check
What does two-factor authentication add to a password?
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 13
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Cyber security basics
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 13
Learn
Cyber security basics
Strong, unique passwords, two-factor authentication and keeping software updated protect against common attacks like phishing (fake messages tricking you into giving up information) and malware (harmful software installed without consent).
Quick check
Part 10 of 13
Quick check
Phishing typically tries to...
Challenge round
Part 11 of 13
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 12 of 13
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Digital technology, privacy and cyber security
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What is the 'digital divide'?
2. What does two-factor authentication add to a password?
3. Phishing typically tries to...
Lesson round-up
Part 13 of 13
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
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Games
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Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
How a supermarket checkout knows the price
When a barcode is scanned, the checkout does not store the price itself. It sends the barcode number to a database and reads back a record: product name, price, whether it needs an age check. The record is the single place the price lives, so changing one row changes every till in the shop at once.
Problems come from bad data, not bad scanners. If two products share a barcode, or a price update reaches the shop overnight but the till holds an old copy in its cache, customers are charged the wrong amount. Shops check this with test transactions: scan a known item, expect a known price, record what actually happened.
Good systems also log every scan. If a customer complains, the log shows exactly which record was used and when.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Write in your own words what the checkout sends and what it receives back.
- Explain one way bad data could cause a wrong price, and how logging helps find it.
- Design a test table with four tests for a new checkout, with expected and actual results.
Reading and notes
ReadingRead the lesson text again and note the key terms and how each one is used, in your own words — as you would for revision.
Half a page of notes
Extended writing
WritingExplain a real system that uses this idea — how it works, where it can go wrong, and how you would make it safer or better.
250–350 words
Algorithm on paper
DiagramWrite your steps out as pseudocode or a flowchart before you type anything, then photograph it.
1 flowchart or 10 lines
Code write-up
WritingCopy your code in, then explain underneath what each part does and what you had to fix.
Code + 5 sentences
Test table
Working outMake a test table: what you tried, what you expected, what actually happened.
4–6 tests
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 13 · Watch & discover
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Understand the impact of digital technology on wider society, including issues of individual privacy and cyber security