IGCSE Past Papers — CS Compass

1 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(a)(i) 2 marks

A computer is connected to a network.

5 (a)(i) The computer has a network interface card (NIC) that has a media access control (MAC) address. One purpose of the NIC is to provide the computer with a MAC address.

Describe the other purposes of the NIC.

2 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(a)(ii) 3 marks

5 (a)(ii) Identify three characteristics of a MAC address.

3 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(b)(i) 1 mark

5 (b)(i) The network allocates an internet protocol (IP) address to the computer.

Tick (✓) one box to identify a valid IPv4 address.

A 110:255:2:1

B 1.30.2FF.A9

C 3.162.74.3

D 8.0.257.6.8

4 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(b)(ii) 1 mark

5 (b)(ii) Identify the device in a network that can automatically assign an IP address to a computer, each time the computer connects to the network.

5 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(c)(i) 1 mark

5 (c)(i) A user accesses the world wide web using a web browser.

Define the term world wide web.

6 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(c)(ii) 4 marks

5 (c)(ii) The uniform resource locator (URL) for a website includes the protocol hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS).

Explain how HTTPS makes the transmission of data secure.

7 0478_m25_qp_12_Q5(c)(iii) 2 marks

5 (c)(iii) A uniform resource locator (URL) contains a domain name and a web page name.

State what is meant by a:

domain name ................................................................................................................................................................................

web page name ...................................................................................................................................

8 0478_s25_qp_11_Q9(b)(i) 2 marks

9 (b)(i) The finance company is concerned that a hacker may perform a brute-force attack.

Describe how the hacker would perform the brute-force attack.

9 0478_s25_qp_11_Q9(b)(ii) 3 marks

9 (b)(ii) Give three cyber security solutions that could be used to help prevent a brute-force attack from being successful.

10 0478_s25_qp_11_Q9(c)(i) 1 mark

9 (c)(i) The company uses a digital currency to purchase a new car.

State what is meant by a digital currency.

11 0478_s25_qp_11_Q9(c)(ii) 1 mark

9 (c)(ii) The digital currency uses a process that involves a digital ledger. The ledger has time stamped transactions that cannot be altered.

Give the name of this process.

12 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(a) 2 marks

5 An online company has a website that allows a user to buy products. The user types in the uniform resource locator (URL) for the website and this is sent to a domain name server (DNS).

(a) Describe the role of the DNS.

[2]

13 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(b) 1 mark

(b) The website asks a user to input their username and password to log into their account. The company want to make their login system more secure.

Tick (✓) one box to show one other security method that could be added to make the login system more secure.

A access levels
B firewall
C spyware
D two-step verification

[1]

14 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(c)(i) 5 marks

(c) The company uses a proxy server to keep the web server safe from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

(i) Complete and annotate a diagram to show how a DDoS attack is carried out on the web server.

web server

[5]

15 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(c)(ii) 2 marks

(ii) Identify two tasks that can be performed by a proxy server that are not performed by a firewall.

1

2 [2]

16 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(d)(i) 1 mark

(d) The company uses cookies to allow users to keep items in a shopping cart. The items remain in the cart after the user closes their web browser.

(i) Tick (✓) one box to show the type of cookie that is used for this process.

A dynamic
B persistent
C session
D static

[1]

17 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(d)(ii) 3 marks

(ii) Give three other ways that the company can use cookies.

1

2

3 [3]

18 0478_s25_qp_13_Q5(d)(iii) 2 marks

(iii) Cookies are stored by a web browser.

Give two other functions of a web browser.

1

2 [2]

19 0478_w25_qp_11_Q4(a) 4 marks

A computer game development company are reviewing their current security solutions.

The company wants employees to be aware of how they can identify phishing.

(a) Describe the process of phishing.

20 0478_w25_qp_11_Q4(b) 2 marks

(b) Give two ways an employee could identify phishing.

1 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

2 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

21 0478_w25_qp_11_Q4(c) 3 marks

(c) The company has installed anti-malware software on all employees' computers.

Give three examples of malware that anti-malware software can detect.

1 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

2 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

3 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

22 0478_w25_qp_12_Q6(a) 3 marks

Screenshot

23 0478_w25_qp_12_Q6(b) 3 marks

(b) The web pages are stored on a web server. A proxy server is used to stop distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the web server.

Describe how the proxy server can stop a DDoS attack reaching a web server.

24 0478_w25_qp_12_Q6(c) 5 marks

(c) Customers use the website to buy clothing from the company.

Complete the table with the missing terms and descriptions about retrieving and displaying web pages.

Term	Description
hypertext markup language (HTML)	.......................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................
domain name server (DNS)	.......................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................
	It is a numerical address used to locate the web server.
	It is a secure protocol that can be used to transmit data sent to and received from a web server.
	It is a piece of software that is used to display web pages.

Term	Description
hypertext markup language (HTML)	It is the language that is often used to write/author web pages.
domain name server (DNS)	It is a system that stores URLs/domain names and their matching/corresponding IP addresses // It is a system that provides the matching IP address for a webpage to the web browser.
IP address	It is a numerical address used to locate the web server.
SSL/TLS/HTTPS	It is a secure protocol that can be used to transmit data sent to and from a web server.
web browser	It is a piece of software that is used to display web pages.

25 0478_w25_qp_12_Q6(d) 3 marks

(d) The clothing company uses cookies to store customer details.

Complete the statements about cookies.

Use terms from the list. Not all terms need to be used. You should only use a term once.

asymmetric DNS dynamic persistent session

static symmetric user utility software web browser

Cookies are stored and managed by the .......................................................................................................................... .

.......................................................................................................................... cookies are temporary files that are

created when a user visits a web page.

.......................................................................................................................... cookies are permanent files that are

created when a user visits a web page.

26 0478_w25_qp_12_Q7(e) 2 marks

(e) The music and audio books that are played by the smart speaker are stored in cloud storage.

Give two advantages of storing the music and audio books in cloud storage.

27 0478_w25_qp_13_Q4(a) 6 marks

A cyber security company specialises in security solutions that help prevent hackers being successful.

(a) Identify two security solutions that can be provided to help prevent hackers being successful.

Explain how each solution helps prevent hackers being successful.

Solution 1 ......................................................................................................................................................................................................

Explanation ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Solution 2 ......................................................................................................................................................................................................

Explanation ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

[6]

28 0478_w25_qp_13_Q4(b) 3 marks

(b) The company also has a web page that provides information to improve people's awareness of social engineering.

Describe what is meant by social engineering.

Include an example of social engineering in your answer.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................................................... [3]

29 0478_w25_qp_13_Q4(c)(i) 1 mark

(c) The company's website uses both session cookies and persistent cookies.

(i) State one similarity between session cookies and persistent cookies.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................................................. [1]

30 0478_w25_qp_13_Q4(c)(ii) 2 marks

(ii) Explain one difference between session cookies and persistent cookies.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................................................. [2]

5 The Internet and Its Uses · 30 Q