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Year 9

Malicious software

I can assess the impact of malicious software on individuals and society.

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New
New
Year 9

Malicious software

I can assess the impact of malicious software on individuals and society.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Malware (malicious software) is software designed to gain access to a computer to cause problems in its operation.
  2. Malware can infect computers using many different methods.
  3. Bots are automated programs that are designed to perform tasks repeatedly.
  4. Bots can be designed for malicious purposes to deliberately impact society.

Keywords

  • Malware - malicious software designed to gain access to a computer to cause problems

  • Virus - malware that spreads between computers and interferes with their normal operation

  • Worm - malware that spreads through a network and uses resources to slow it down

  • Trojan - malware that has been disguised as a harmless program

  • Bots - automated programs that perform tasks repeatedly

Common misconception

You can only get malware on a computer if you download a file.

Malware can infect a computer in other ways, like visiting unsafe websites, clicking bad links, or through software flaws, not just by downloading files.


To help you plan your year 9 computing lesson on: Malicious software, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Large malware attacks can be front-page news. The most recent examples from around the world will make this topic seem more real to pupils. Consider replacing the examples in the lesson to something more current to the time you teach it.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the terms to their definitions.
Correct Answer:hacking,gaining unauthorised access
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gaining unauthorised access

Correct Answer:DDoS,disrupting online services
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disrupting online services

Correct Answer:brute force attack,guessing passwords repeatedly
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guessing passwords repeatedly

Correct Answer:phishing,fraudulent communication
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fraudulent communication

Correct Answer:social engineering,tricking people into sharing data
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tricking people into sharing data

Q2.
Which of the following is an example of personal data?
a job title
a programming algorithm
a computer's IP address
Correct answer: a person's email address
Q3.
What is the term for a law or set of laws passed by Parliament?
Correct Answer: Legislation
Q4.
What is the definition of hacking?
writing computer programs
protecting a system from malware
Correct answer: gaining unauthorised access to a computer system
sending spam emails
Q5.
What is the purpose of phishing?
to send spam emails
to install malware on a computer
to create strong passwords
Correct answer: to trick users into providing sensitive information
Q6.
What does "DDoS" stand for?
Correct answer: Distributed Denial of Service
Data Denial of Service
Digital Denial of Security
Dynamic Data of Service

6 Questions

Q1.
What is malware designed to do?
Correct answer: gain access to a computer to cause problems
protect computers from viruses
improve a computer’s performance
spread harmless files
Q2.
Which of the following is not a type of malware?
virus
trojan
bot
Correct answer: firewall
Q3.
Match the following malware-related terms to their correct definitions.
Correct Answer:virus,spreads between computers and interferes with their operation
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spreads between computers and interferes with their operation

Correct Answer:worm,spreads through networks, slowing them down
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spreads through networks, slowing them down

Correct Answer:trojan,disguised as harmless software
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disguised as harmless software

Correct Answer:bots,automated programs that perform tasks repeatedly
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automated programs that perform tasks repeatedly

Q4.
What is the term for malware that locks a user’s data and demands payment to restore access?
Correct Answer: ransomware, ransom ware
Q5.
Match the following malware types to how they may infect a system.
Correct Answer:virus,spreads by attaching itself to files shared between computers
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spreads by attaching itself to files shared between computers

Correct Answer:worm,spreads through networks without user interaction
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spreads through networks without user interaction

Correct Answer:ransomware,delivered via phishing emails or malicious downloads
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delivered via phishing emails or malicious downloads

Q6.
Which of the following is an example of a good bot on the internet?
Correct answer: a search engine crawler indexing websites
a bot that spreads spam emails
a bot that collects sensitive user information without their agreement
a bot that creates social media accounts