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Cyber Security and Digital Currency: Question 9

Syllabus 5.3

Structured 7 marks

An online banking app protects customer accounts and data using several different security measures at once.

(a) State which protocol encrypts data transmitted between the customer's browser and the bank's server during a session, and identify one visual sign in the browser that shows it is in use. [2]

(b) To log in, a customer enters a password, then must also enter a one-time code sent to their registered phone. Name this authentication method, and explain how it improves security compared with using a password alone. [2]

(c) The app also offers fingerprint login as an alternative to entering the password. State one advantage of this type of authentication over a password-based login. [1]

(d) Explain the role of a firewall in protecting the bank's servers from unauthorised access attempts arriving over the network. [2]

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Worked solution

Part (a): Encrypting data in transit

The protocol that encrypts data sent between the customer’s browser and the bank’s server is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). When SSL is in use, the browser shows a visual sign that the connection is secure and encrypted: a padlock symbol in the address bar, and the web address itself starts with “https” rather than “http”.

Part (b): Two-step verification

Requiring a password and then a separate one-time code sent to the customer’s registered phone is two-step verification. This improves on a password alone because knowing or stealing the password is no longer enough to log in: the attacker would also need physical access to the customer’s own phone to receive and enter the one-time code, which is far harder for an attacker to obtain than a password on its own.

Part (c): Advantage of biometric login

A fingerprint is unique to the individual customer, so it cannot be forgotten, written down, shared or guessed the way a password can be. This makes it harder for someone other than the genuine customer to log in, since they cannot simply learn or copy the fingerprint the way they might learn a leaked or weak password.

Part (d): The role of a firewall

A firewall is placed between the bank’s servers and the wider network, and it examines every attempt to connect to the server. It checks incoming traffic against a set of security rules, for example blocking connections from sources or of a type known to be associated with attacks, and only allows traffic that meets the rules through to the server. In this way, it acts as a filter that keeps many unauthorised access attempts from ever reaching the bank’s servers in the first place, without needing to inspect what is inside genuine, allowed traffic in the way anti-malware software would.

Final answers

  • (a) SSL; shown by the padlock icon / “https” in the address bar.
  • (b) Two-step verification; a stolen password alone cannot be used to log in without the customer’s phone.
  • (c) A fingerprint is unique and cannot be forgotten, written down or guessed like a password.
  • (d) A firewall monitors and filters network traffic against security rules, blocking unauthorised connection attempts before they reach the server.