Unit 3
Safe Computing
Unit Overview
The use of computing innovations may involve risks to personal safety and identity. This unit examines the following questions:
What personally identifiable information (PII) is collected and stored? How and were is this data stored in a computing system?
How can computing resources protect our data?
How are computing resources misused?
How is unauthorized access to computing resources accomplished?
Students will learn what type information is considered personally identifiable information (PII) and how this data is collected and stored in a computing system. We will explore the risks and benefits of stored data to a computer user. Then the unit shifts the focus to how we can protect the information, how computing systems can be misused to gather PII and how unauthorized access to the system occurs. Student will learn about encryption techniques, common cybersecurity threats and the trust model of the Internet.
The ARC challenge for this unit requires the student teams to investigate and analyze the security of their selected innovation as it relates to privacy, legal & ethical issues. Student teams will select a law or act (Digital Millennium Copyright Act, COPPA, cyberbullying laws, etc) that is relevant to their topic or innovation and will explore the relevancy of the law and the examine it for potential bias. Does the law protect all groups? Is the law equal or equitable for all groups?