Question

A business' data needs to be guarded from its competitors. Explain any two features of Computerised Accounting System that help a business to maintain its secrecy.

Hint:

Write any two security features such as password security, data audit or data vault. Explain how each keeps business data secret.

Answer 1

Step 1: Understand the question:
A business must keep its data safe from competitors. A Computerised Accounting System offers several security features for this purpose.
We explain any two of them with a suitable explanation, two marks for each. The official scheme names password security, data audit and data vault.

Step 2: Feature 1: Password security:
A password is a widely accepted security control to reach the data. Only the authorised person who knows the password can open the accounting records.
A user who does not know the password cannot retrieve any information from the system, so competitors are kept out.
The data is also stored in a binary coded format, and access to the database is given only through the software. This protects the integrity of the data.

Step 3: Feature 2: Data audit:
The audit feature gives the administrator the right to keep track of unauthorised access to the database.
It checks the correctness of the entries. After entries are audited, the software lists every entry with the name of the auditor user and the date and time of any change.
Any attempt to tamper with the books is therefore recorded, which keeps the information secret and reliable.

Step 4: Other feature (not needed for full marks):
Data vault is a third feature. It gives extra security to the entered data, keeps the original information safe from tampering and its password cannot be broken.
Only two features are required, so a student may write any two out of these three.

Final Answer:
Any two of password security, data audit and data vault, each explained, earn the full 4 marks (2 + 2).