FOR INTERNAL

CIRCULATION

NOOR AZIMAH HASSAN

NURUL HAFIDZAH NOOR HALIM
BASIC
HANIZAH ABDUL WAHID
NURULHIDAYAH ABDUL LATIF
NAFAIZATULNANANIAH HASHIM
NAZATULSHIMA ZAKARIA
APPLICATIONS
NORZARIYAH YAHYA

OF ICT
ROHAYAH RUSLAN
MAZLINAH GHAZALI
Editor:
Sharifah Khadijah Syed Mohsin

Authors:
Noor Azimah Hassan
Nurul Hafidzah Noor Halim
Hanizah Abdul Wahid
Nurulhidayah Abdul Latif
Nafaizatulnananiah Hashim
Nazatulshima Zakaria
Norzariyah Yahya
Rohayah Ruslan
Mazlinah Ghazali

First Edition – June, 2017

Second Edition – June, 2019
Third Edition – March, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without any prior written permission of the
authors.

Department of ICT, Centre for

Foundation Studies,
International Islamic University Malaysia (Gambang Campus),
26300 Kuantan,
Pahang Darul Makmur, MALAYSIA.
http://www.iium.edu.my/kulliyyah/cfs
 PREFACE

Assalamu’alaikum. A warm greeting from Department of ICT, Centre for Foundation Studies,
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Alhamdulillah, the third edition of Basic
Applications of ICT book is finally out.

This book is motivated by the desire of ICT lecturers to guide students with the
fundamental knowledge of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This edition
has six chapters. It covers all basic applications of ICT that are essentials for your knowledge.
This includes topics that have developed significantly in recent years such as cloud computing,
social media, mobile apps and many more.

Within each chapter, we present Concept Check and end-of-chapter exercises in which
you can check your understanding of related topics. There are also topics on IT and Islam
which discusses the relationship of humans and IT from Islamic perspectives.

It is hoped that this book will be a valuable reference for you and be the key point to
motivate you in reinforcing your computing skills by advancing the knowledge of IT in the
future.

Thank you.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TOPIC PAGE NO.

Chapter 1 Overview of IT 1-28

Chapter 2 IT Trends 29-61

Chapter 3 Software 62-106

Chapter 4 The Internet and the Web 107-136

Chapter 5 Communications and Networks 137-172

Chapter 6 Privacy, Security and Ethics 173-204

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iv
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
OVERVIEW OF IT

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Explain the basic operations of computing.
• Describe the categories of computers and the types of personal computers.
• Describe the relationship between data and information.
• Explain the elements of Information System (IS).
• Explain the relationship between Islam and IT.

INTRODUCTION
Today, computers are used everywhere in our society. Businesses, schools, government
agencies, and other organisations use computers and computer technologies to assist day-to-
day transactions, provide better services to customers, and communicate with others. Since
computers are widespread today, it is essential for everyone to know something about
computers and be a highly efficient and effective computer user.

The future of computers and digital technology promises exciting challenges and
opportunities to computer users. It may change the way people and organisations collaborate
with each other in their daily life.

This chapter is designed to help you understand what computers are, how they work, and
how people use them. It also introduces the important terms and concepts of computing
operations and Information Technology (IT) as well as an overview of Information System (IS).
Finally, the chapter closes with an overview of Islam and IT.

What is a computer?
A computer is an electronic device that operates under the control of stored instructions in
its memory. Basically, a computer is used to capture and process the data, generate the
results, and store future use results. A computer is a programmable machine that
manipulates data according to a set of instructions given by the user. Computers are popular
because they have the advantages of speed, reliability, consistency, storage, and
communication capabilities.

2
 To understand how computers work, computer users must understand these basic
principles.
1. Data is anything in a suitable form to be processed by computer. Data is turned into
information.
2. Program is a set of instructions that direct the computer.
3. Hardware and software have their specific functions.
4. All computers involve input, processing, storage, and output.

Basic operations of computing

Computers can be connected to various types of devices, such as televisions, projectors, and
others. Regardless of type and size, all computers do the following basic operations.
• Input can be any kind of data that needs processing. Input is anything which is entered
into a computer system. You input data into the computer using a keyboard, mouse, or
other input devices. It is the process of accepting data by using any input devices.
• Processing is the running of a program to manipulate data into information. In a
computer, the processing is done by the Central Processing Unit (CPU). Once an
instruction is given to a CPU, the necessary program is executed to perform the
processing. It will convert or transform the data (input) into information (output).
• Data and programs are kept in storage. There are two types of storage which are primary
storage and secondary storage. Primary storage, also known as main memory,
temporarily holds data waiting to be processed while secondary storage permanently
stores data or information as files in devices and electronic media. This process of storing
or retaining the data or instructions for future used.
• Output is anything produced by the computer system. The output is the processing
results that are sent to a monitor, speakers, printers, or other output devices. Information
displayed on a monitor screen is an example of output.

Nowadays, most computers are equipped with communications operation since the
ability to share information with others is crucial in this era. The role of communications has
greatly contributed to the enormous growth of technology nowadays. By communicating
with one another, all information, resources, and expertise can be shared. Communications
could be in a form of wired or wireless communications. Data or information can be
transmitted by modem to or from other computers via e-mail and social networking sites.

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 Figure 1-1 Basic operations of a computer

Data Representation
Before we look at how computer processes data, we need to know how a computer
represents data. Computer cannot recognise data or information in a way of human
interactions. Human will follow instructions and process data using numbers, letters, and
characters. Computer process data in a different way. Data consist of analog data and digital
data. Analog data use continuous signals or waves that vary in strength and frequency. One
example of analog data is the human voice.

As for a computer, it is an electronic device powered by electricity, and as such, it

recognises only two states: on and off, yes and no and present or absent arrangement. For
example, a light switch may be on or off only (the electric circuit will open or closed only).
Thus, two states or binary system is used to represent data and instructions. This is also
known as digital data. Digital data is discontinuous, expressed as a discrete burst of on and
off electric pulses.

Figure 1-2 Analog data Figure 1-3 Digital data

Bits and Bytes

Two digits, 0 and 1 represent the two states of the digital data. The digit 0 represents the off
state (absence of electronic charge) and digit 1 represents the on state (presence of electronic
charge). As the two states are represented by digits 0 and 1, the numbering system to
represent these states is the binary system. The digits are known as binary digits, or just bits.
A bit refers to the smallest unit of data that the computer can process. To represent numbers,

4
letters, and characters, bits are combined into groups of eight called bytes. Whenever you
enter a number into a computer system, that number must be converted into a binary
number before it can be processed.

Figure 1-4 Binary representation of electronic states

Character Coding Scheme

A coding scheme maps a set of alphanumeric characters and special symbols to a sequence
of numeric values that a computer can process. Three popular coding schemes to represent
data are:
• ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It uses 7 bits to
represent a character. This coding scheme is used in 1967 for early Internet mail systems.
Table 1-1 shows some examples of ASCII codes.
Table 1-1 ASCII table
Character Decimal Binary Character Decimal Binary
; 59 00111011 [ 91 01011011
< 60 00111100 \ 92 01011100
= 61 00111101 ] 93 01011101
> 62 00111110 ^ 94 01011110
? 63 00111111 _ 95 01011111
@ 64 01000000 ` 96 01100000
A 65 01000001 a 97 01100001
B 66 01000010 b 98 01100010
C 67 01000011 c 99 01100011
D 68 01000100 d 100 01100100

• ASCII-8 (or Extended ASCII) uses 8 bits to represent a character. ASCII-8 has 256
characters which included characters used in countries other than USA such as the
character £.
• Unicode uses from 8 bits to 32 bits for its character representation. Some versions are
UTF-8 (8 bits), UTF-16 (16 bits), and UTF-32 (32 bits). Hence, Unicode can represent more
than 65,000 characters and symbols. It covers most of the world's writing systems such

5
 as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Thai and many more languages. Modern
computers and programming languages use Unicode. Figure 1-5 shows some of the
Arabic characters in Unicode.

Figure 1-5 Example of Arabic characters in Unicode

Advantages and disadvantages of computers

Advantages of using computers are:
• Speed: Computers can process up to trillions of operations per second.
• Accuracy: Computers can produce more accurate calculations than the conventional
method.
• Consistency: Computers can produce consistent results and performance. Unlike
humans, computers do not get tired or lose concentration.
• Versatility: Computers can be programmed to solve various kinds of problems and for
various functions. For example, a computer may be used for gaming as well as for complex
scientific processes.
• Communications: Computers can exchange message, data or information with another
computer across great distances.
• Storage: Computers can store large amount of data and information very quickly.
• Reliability: Modern computers rarely break down or fail and are designed for easy
maintenance. Some of them are capable of self-recovery in case of a system crash or a
sudden shutdown.
• Automation: Computers can perform tasks automatically. Programs that have been
stored can be executed according to schedule or when an event arises.
• Cost-saving: Installing computers for business operations is an investment to reduce
operational costs through automation, increased speed, and improved accuracy.

6
• Reduction of paperwork: Since computers save files digitally, the need for paper records
is significantly reduced. This will save cost, space, and be more environmentally friendly
because cutting down trees is reduced.
• Availability: Nowadays, computers are equipped with Internet connection. This
facilitates people to access any computer system from anywhere and at any time.

Disadvantages of using computers are:

• No intelligence: Computer capabilities still depend on inputs and instructions by people.
It cannot perform any task or make any decision without programs or instructions given
by people.
• High cost: Computers require high start-up cost to purchase equipment and software. It
is relatively expensive for low-income groups as it can cost between a few thousand to a
few million Ringgit Malaysia.
• Require skilful personnel: Operating computers require special knowledge and skills. An
organisation may need to hire IT professionals whose main job is to manage the
computers.
• Computer risks: Computers are vulnerable to mishandling, viruses, hacking and electrical
problems leading to loss of data or theft. Human effort is needed to check the results and
to take preventive or corrective actions.
• Health problems: Excessive use of computers may lead to health issues such as neck and
back problems, eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and others.
• Lack of human touch: An important aspect of business is customer relationship.
Computers cannot replace the warmth and friendliness of trained employees.

Types of computer
Computers come in different shapes and sizes. They can be generally classified according to
their processing power. At the beginning of the computer era, computers were huge and
expensive and could only be afforded by huge organisations. Later, personal computing
became popular due to the reduced costs of computers and the good design for ease of use.

The four types of computer system are: supercomputers, mainframe computers,

midrange computers, and microcomputers.

1. A supercomputer is a high-performance computer that is commonly used by very large

organisations. It is the most powerful and most expensive computer system in processing

7
 capabilities, storage capacity, and accuracy. It can execute multiple calculations
simultaneously through its parallel architecture and shorten the time required to solve a
problem. The performance of a supercomputer is measured in floating-point operations
per second (FLOPS), which is a more accurate measurement than million instructions per
second (MIPS).

A supercomputer is used for computing very complex tasks that no other

computer types can handle. Examples of the complex tasks include assisting in a complex
scientific calculation, forecasting the weather, designing an aeroplane, sending astronauts
into space, physics simulation, molecular modelling, exploring for oil and gas, and nuclear
research. Examples of supercomputers are Tianhe-2, Cray series (Cray-1, Cray-2, Cray XK7,
Cray XC30, Cray XC40), IBM's Blue Roadrunner, IBM's Blue Gene series (Blue Gene/L, Blue
Gene/P, Blue Gene/Q), and Fujitsu's K-Computer.

Figure 1-6 IBM Blue Gene supercomputer

2. A mainframe computer has multiple cabinets, each the size of a large-sized refrigerator
called frames, on an elevated platform to hide cables and to allow cool air to circulate
from beneath. The hardware components are kept in separate water- or air-cooled
frames. The mainframe computer is placed in a very large room of one's building floor.
Users access a mainframe through a terminal. The mainframe is designed for batch
processing and record-keeping for processing millions of instructions. This type of
computer is often used by large organisations such as banks, airlines, colleges, and
insurance companies.

8
 Figure 1-7 IBM mainframe

3. A midrange computer is also referred to as a server. A server is a central computer that

holds collections of data and programs for connecting or supplying services to many
personal computers (PCs) or terminals called clients. This entire connection (network) is
called a client-server network. Depending on the usage of any type of organisation, the
server can act as a back-up machine to store files. It may also house large libraries of
financial, sales and product information.

A server is a medium-sized computer used to host programs and data for a small
network such as a faculty computer lab or a hospital office network. It is typically stored
in a room either nearby or far away from the clients. It can serve many users at the same
time. Some servers consist of a collection of individual circuit boards called blades. One
blade server contains the hardware necessary to provide the complete processing power
of one PC. This type of server is much easier to upgrade and expand, consumes lower
power and cooling costs, and is more secure than a tower server. (See Figure 1-8 and
Figure 1-9.

Figure 1-8 IBM tower server Figure 1-9 IBM blade server

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4. A microcomputer is also known as a personal computer (PC). It is popular in offices,
schools, and homes due to its invention of very small yet powerful microprocessors that
reduced the computers' size and cost. A personal computer is often differentiated by the
type of operating system it uses, with Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS leading the
operating system market share.

Some giant PC makers are DELL, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo, Acer, and
Samsung. These companies provide personal computers that use Windows operating
system, while Apple Inc. sells personal computers that use MacOS. Other operating
systems for personal computers include Linux and Chrome OS which are open source
operating system.

Types of personal computer

There are five types of personal computers:
1. Desktop computers comprise of system unit, input hardware and output hardware that
fits on or under a desk.

2. Laptop computers are also known as notebook computers. They are lightweight, portable
computers, yet they can be as powerful as the average desktop computers. The keyboard
is on top of the system unit and a monitor is hinged to the system unit. A laptop computer
can operate on either a battery or power supply.

3. Tablet computers are portable computers that use a touch screen, or a kind of pen called
a stylus to input data. They are smaller and less powerful than laptop computers. Some
of the designs are called convertible tablet (has a detachable keyboard) and slate tablet
(excludes a keyboard).

4. Smartphones are wireless Internet-capable cell phones that usually provide personal
information management functions such as an address book, a calculator, a calendar, and
a notepad. Like tablet computers, many smartphones have a touch screen to access
information. Instead of or in addition to an on-screen keyboard, a variety of options are
available for typing on a smartphone such as swipe keyboard app, mini keyboard, keypad,
slide-out keyboard, portable keyboard, virtual keyboard, and speech-to-text app.

5. Wearable devices are smart electronic devices with microcontrollers (embedded

computer), that can be worn on the body as implants or as accessories. These devices are

10
 created to support the concept of Internet of Things (IoT). Some popular types of
wearable devices are an activity tracker like Fitbit, a smartwatch like Apple Watch, and a
smart glass or smart eyewear like Google Glass.

Desktop
Laptop

Tablet
Smartphone

Wearable: Smartwatch Wearable: Smart eyewear

Figure 1-10 Types of personal computer

Concept Check
 Describe the differences between supercomputers, mainframe computers, and
microcomputers.
 In your opinion, what makes mobile devices more popular than desktops?

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Storage
Storage refers to the media that hold data, instructions, and information for current or future
use. The two components of storage are the media and storage devices. The media are the
physical materials that hold data, instructions, and information (e.g metal disk platter,
magnetic tape, microchip). The storage devices are the hardware or mechanism that record
and retrieve data to or from the physical media (e.g read/write head, media player/driver).

The capacity of a storage is referring to the amount of data the storage can hold. It
measures the number of bits or bytes stored on it. If a file size is 1KB, that means there are
1000 bytes (1 x 10³) or 8000 bits (1 x 10³ x 8). Refer to Table 1-2 for the terms used for
capacity.

Table 1-2 Measurement units of storage capacity

Unit for Storage Capacity Approximate number of bytes
Kilobyte (KB) 1 thousand (exact number is 1024 bytes), 103
Megabyte (MB) 1 million, 106
Gigabyte (GB) 1 billion, 109
Terabyte (TB) 1 trillion, 1012
Petabyte (PB) 1 quadrillion, 1015
Exabyte (EB) 1 quintillion, 1018
Zettabyte (ZB) 1 sextillion, 1021
Yottabyte (YB) 1 septillion, 1024

Access time is the time taken to complete one reading operation or one writing
operation. Access time is a measurement that calculates the amount of (1) time it takes for
a computer program or device to locate data item on a storage medium or (2) the time that
required to provide the item in RAM to be transferred to or from the CPU. Transfer rate is
also affecting the access time. The process of transferring data from the storage medium to
the memory is called reading or retrieving. Writing or saving is the process of transferring
data from memory to a storage medium.

Primary Storage Versus Secondary Storage

The three most important storage that will be discussed are Random Access Memory (RAM),
hard disk drive (HDD) and solid-state drive (SSD). RAM is an example of primary storage, while
the other two are examples of secondary storage. Your computer certainly needs both
primary and secondary storage to make it functional. The differences between primary and
secondary storages are listed in Table 1.3.

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 Table 1-3 Differences between primary and secondary storage
Primary storage Secondary storage
• Volatile (loses its contents when the • Non-volatile (keeps its contents even
computer power is switched off) after the power is switched off)
• A temporary holding place for data and • A permanent holding place of file for
instructions needed during processing. future use.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is more expensive than any secondary storage (per unit storage) but it can store
significantly more information. RAM's capacity depends on the type of device and
applications to be used on that device. Most personal computers are equipped with just
enough RAM (from 2GB to 8GB) to accommodate computing's basic needs. Users may
purchase a larger capacity (16GB or 32GB) for professional work and heavy interactive
games/applications. However, using a large capacity RAM does not really affect a computer's
performance. Instead, computer users need to consider more important components like the
processor or graphics card.

As you start your computer, the operating system files that reside in the secondary
storage are loaded into the memory and prepare your computer interface for you to interact
with the system. As you open a file, the data that reside in the computer storage are loaded
into the memory to allow you to work with the file. If you create a new file, the data in the
new file are also held in the memory. However, if you failed to save the newly created data
onto the storage media, you will not be able to retrieve it later and it is lost. Therefore,
secondary storage is essential for us to keep the file permanently for future use.

RAM consists of memory chips where the processor and other devices can read from
and write to these memory chips. RAM chips reside on a memory module, or a small circuit
board. Inside the system unit, these memory modules are inserted onto the memory slots on
the motherboard.

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 When the computer or mobile devices are
switched on, certain operating system files, for
example, the files that determine the display of a
computer screen will be loaded into the RAM, from the
hard disk. These files will remain in the RAM as long as
the power is on. If the user executes another
application such as opening the Microsoft Word or
running a browser, these instructions are loaded into
Figure 1-11 Memory modules
RAM and loaded into RAM. By then, we will see the
containing memory chips
application window appears on the computer's screen.
At this time, RAM already contains the operating system and the application's instructions.
User's data such as documents being typed will also reside in the RAM.

Since RAM is volatile and cannot hold its contents forever, any data, instructions and
information that we may need in the future must be stored elsewhere. This process is called
saving, which involves copying data, instructions and information from RAM into a storage
device.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

In contrast, secondary storage media hold as much more data and software to anticipate
users' needs with much cheaper cost and larger capacities. New computers generally have
the capacity of 1TB of HDD.

Figure 1-12 Hard disk platters with read/write heads

A hard disk must be formatted before it can be used. Formatting is the process of
dividing the disk into tracks and sectors to enable the operating system to store and read data

14
on the disk. Circular lines or concentric rings called tracks are divided into sectors, which are
the invisible wedge-shaped sections. Two or more sectors are combined to form a cluster.
For stack of platters, cylinders run through the same tracks of multiple platters. The operating
system records exact locations of files on the disk in a table by storing the filenames, and the
locations using track and sector numbers. This table is known as New Technology File System
(NTFS) for newer OS and File Allocation Table (FAT) for older OS.

Figure 1-13 Tracks, sectors, and clusters

Hard disk has multiple platters, and each has its own read/write heads. The platters
rotate as fast as 5,400 to 7,200 rotations per minute. There is no direct contact since there is
a cushion of air about 0.000001 inch distance between the read/write heads and the hard
disk surface.

Contaminants such as hair, dust, smoke particles and dirt may cause a head crash.
This is because the read/write heads touch the disk's surface due to the existence of such
particles. Another possible cause could be when the computer accidentally dropped while it
is still running and as a result, the read/write heads of the hard disk touch the disk surface.
This phenomenon creates scratches on the surface that can cause bad sectors, or areas on
the hard disk that have become damaged. Head crash may cause loss of some or even the
entire hard disk data. Today's hard disks come in a tightly sealed casing that can absorb minor
jolting and shield them from contaminants.

Solid-State Drive (SSD)

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a storage that consists of electronic components with no moving
parts. This type of storage can stand shocks and vibrations. It is more durable compared to

15
hard disks. The demand for small package and light weight storage is also growing especially
in smartphones and other small and mobile devices. As such, manufacturers keep reducing
the size of storage devices and adding more capacities on this technology. Switching to an
SSD is the best upgrade to make a PC works faster. Even though a solid-state drive is more
expensive compared to a hard disk, it offers faster access speed (but slower than RAM) and
lighter in weight.

SSDs use electronic memory or flash memory which stores data, instructions and
information in sections called blocks. Initially, SSDs were used only for critical tasks due to
the expensive price. But now they become popular in many applications. SSDs have given
huge benefits to many organisations for faster data access such as in telecommunication
corporations, streaming media and video editing firms. SSDs are used in many types of
computers including servers, desktop computers, mobile devices, notebooks, ultra-books and
other ultra-portable PCs. The power consumption is
about half or one third of HDD's power consumption
and is lighter in weight. SSDs are now popular
alternatives to hard disk drives.

Figure 1-14 Solid-state drive

Data vs. Information

People are finding for quality information from an information system. Quality information
is important because it helps us to become more knowledgeable and can make a better
decision. As such, storing, organising, and processing data in a systematic way will result in
quality information.

What is the difference between data and information? Data are raw facts and figures
collected from various sources. Data can be in the form of letters (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9) and
special characters. Data do not carry any specific meaning unless processed. The processed
data are called information, where they offer more meaningful form of data.

Data Processing Information

Figure 1-15 Relationship between data and information

16
 Information is a set of processed data. The processing operation manipulates the
data, according to the program used, to produce information. Therefore, information is more
meaningful to the user than data and may be useful for decision-making.

Table 1-4 Examples of data and information

Event Data Information
A list of numbers. 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21 • All are odd numbers.
• The smallest number is 1.
• The biggest number is 21.
• The difference of one with the
next number is 2.
• The sum of all numbers is 121.
The final exam 56, 77, 80, 50, 47, • Average mark: 64.9
marks of 10 85, 50, 66, 61, 77 • Lowest mark: 47
students. • Highest mark: 85
The weight (in kg) Weight Height Body Mass Index (BMI)
and height (in cm) 53.8 165 19.8 (Normal)
of 5 persons 40.7 140 20.8 (Normal)
56.5 177 18.0 (Underweight)
77.2 160 30.2 (Obesity)
60.2 152 26.1 (Overweight)
• 1 person is underweight
• 2 persons are normal
• 1 person 1 overweight
• 1 person is obesity

Referring to Table 1-4, the information is interpreted from the data based on their
context by using a simple interpretation or advanced statistical analysis. Data collection can
be a long and repetitive process. Data is collected in a datasheet. Analysis involves calculation
of data. The results may include statistical charts, descriptions, or findings. These are referred
to as information. Finally, both data and information are presented in reports. The
differences between data and information are shown in Table 1-5.

Table 1-5 Differences between data and information

Data Information
Raw facts and figures Processed data – findings, summary.
Collected from people or the Produced from data through analysis and
environment interpretation.
Meaning is implicit – needs interpretation Meaning is explicit – stated clearly and in
detail.

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INFORMATION SYSTEM
An information system is an organised system for collecting, manipulating, storing, and
processing data into information. The goal of an information system is to process data and
produce quality information. Most companies will use information system to organise
information to provide better services to their customers.

One of the big companies that use information systems to help them gain a
competitive advantage is Amazon. During the first month of their business in 2005, Amazon
based in the U.S received orders from citizens in their 50 states and from other countries all
around the world. One of its success reasons is by building a strong relationship with their
customers using their information system. They keep records of past purchases and
customers preferences, in which they are then able to recommend new products that relate
to the interests of that customer. Without a smart information system, Amazon would be like
other conventional book-selling companies.

The Elements of Information System

There are six elements of an information system, as shown in Figure 1-16.

People

Connectivity
Procedures
Information
System

Data
Hardware
Software

Figure 1-16 Elements of an Information System

1. People
People are the most important element of an information system. They prepare the
procedures for the users and they design the software for the system. They input the
data into the system and use the information produced. They build the hardware and
ensure it runs smoothly.

18
 Since people are very important in developing and maintaining an information
system, most companies have an IT (Information Technology) department. The skilled
staff in the IT department will train the users to understand how to use the
information system effectively.

2. Procedures
Procedures are the guidelines, rules, or manual for users to follow when using an
information system. They describe how to use the hardware, software, and data.
They also explain how tasks must be done or how to accomplish an activity. All
information system should have well documented procedures to ease the process of
using the system.

3. Hardware
Hardware is the physical component of an information system. This includes
input/output, processing, and storage devices. For the hardware to function, they
must be instructed by software. All hardware must be reliable and capable of handling
the expected workload of the information system.

4. Software
Software, or also called computer programs, are the non-physical component of an
information system. They consist of step-by-step instructions that tell the hardware
how to perform a task. The software must be developed and tested carefully so that
they can organise data and produce the expected output. Every task that a user
performs using an information system is done by the software.

5. Data
Data are unprocessed factual items, such as text, numbers, images, audio, and video
files. Data are manipulated by the software to produce useful information that are
requested by the user. The data entered the information system must be accurate so
that the result is accurate too. The difference between data and information will be
discussed in detail later.

6. Connectivity
Connectivity or network allows at least two devices to be connected by wire or
wireless connection. For an information system that involves more than one piece of

19
 hardware to function, connectivity is compulsory (for example, a server is connected
to a client).

Concept Check
 Which part of an information system is the most important?
 The hardware and software are two parts of an information system. Name the other
four parts.

Information System in Banking Sector

Banking sector is one of the sectors that has grown and improved dramatically with
information system. The advantages of information systems have helped banks to improve
and become more efficient. Think of this scenario, when you need money; you can stop at an
Auto Teller Machine (ATM), enter a PIN and leave with cash. How do these wonder machines
work? How do the machines approve the transactions? ATM is a very complex machine with
a huge volume of information stored in its system.

Before this, banking procedure was very time-consuming. Everything had to be done
manually by filling up a manual form. To withdraw money, customers need to fill in a
withdrawal form and to deposit money; they need to fill in another form. But when ATMs
were invented, customers are no more restricted to the bank's working hours to do basic
transactions like drawing cash or checking bank balance. By inserting bank card, the ATM can
analyse a customer's information and then dispense the requested amount of money.

Another benefit is customers can perform interbank cash withdrawal. They are not
restricted to a specific bank's ATM only. This results in improved efficiency and productivity
for banks. All communications are kept safe with an encryption which keeps your transactions
private from other users. It is a fast, reliable, and effective way to access your account
through the use of an information system.

We can conclude that information systems have improved banking sector in several ways:

• Process task faster - This will benefit both the banks themselves and the bank users,
queues are shorter and less staff need to be employed

20
• Make quick decision- Important decisions can be made a lot quicker- for example when
applying for loans, banks can quickly assess the person through the information system
by simply using their identification number.
• Process the transactions quickly- Transactions can be done a lot faster not only in the
bank but also by use of debit card by bank users elsewhere or at ATMs.
• Manage online transactions- Customers can perform online transactions without visiting
the physical bank by simply using online banking facility.
• Provide better customer support services- Banks have more information at hand and it
can be very helpful. For example, to cancel a bank card in case of theft, information
systems allow the bank to look up for detail and find the account wish to be cancelled
within a few minutes.

Table 1-6 Summary of six elements of ATM

Elements Explanation and Examples
People People who are needed to develop, run and maintain the system
• Bank staff
• Maintenance/technical support team
• Vendor/Outsource company (programmer, software developer)
• Security officer/armoured personnel (add cash notes in the machine)
Hardware Designed for cash withdrawal, deposits, credit card payments and reporting
account information.
(Processor, Card reader, Keypad/buttons, Display screen,
Speaker, Receipt printer, Cash dispenser, Security camera)
Software Designed for managing ATM channels and transactions on centralised
databases.
• Embedded versions of Windows (Windows CE/Windows XP Embedded
(older ATMs) or Windows Embedded Compact 7 (newer ATMs)
• Windows 10 IoT
• Embedded System programming language (Pro*C/C++ works on
accessing Web Services provided by the Bank as ATM Controller)
• Linux distros
• Built-in firewall
Data Input given to the machines or facts stored in the system.
• PIN number
• Language selection
• Withdrawal amount
• Bank Account number
• Card number
• Customer name
• Account balance
Procedure User manual that can be found from bank, search engine, bank employees,
ATM vendor/developer.

21
 • What are the steps to withdraw money?
• What is needed to do to use ATM card for the first time?
• How to check account balance?
Connectivity ATM has to connect and communicate through a host processor. The host
processor is the gateway through which all the various ATM networks
become available to the cardholder (interbank network). Most ATMs built
within the past several years have the equipment necessary to connect
via Wi-Fi connection.

Nowadays most of ATMs are using industrial cellular routers with 4G LTE
connectivity as a main or a back-up source of connectivity between ATM and
the central system of the bank. Some use reliable wired Internet access
options such as DSL or fiber optic.

Islam and IT
Allah shows the importance of input, process, and output in a human life. Surah Al-Baqarah
verses 31 till 34 from Al-Qur’ān, exhibit the significant practice of input, process, and output
designed for human beings. Allah raises the status of humans by inputting the knowledge in
their aqal. With this given knowledge, humans need to strive to succeed in this world and the
hereafter. Allah does not look at the outcome but the process to achieve the outcome is
more important.

And He taught Ādam the nature of all things; and then He placed them before the angels,
and said: "Tell me the nature of these if ye are right." They said: “Glory to Thee, of
knowledge we have none, save what Thou Who art perfect in knowledge and natures.” He
said: “O Ādam! Tell them their natures.” When he had told them, God said: “Did I not tell
you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and I know what ye reveal and what ye
conceal?” And behold, We said to the angels: “Bow down to Ādam and they bowed down.
Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: he was of those who rejected Faith.
Al-Baqarah (2):31-34

By referring to Surah Al-Baqarah verses 31-34 from Al-Qur’ān, exhibit the significant
practice of input, process, and output designed for human beings. Allah raises the status of
humans by inputting knowledge.

22
Summary
Chapter 1 introduced you to some basic computer concepts. It discussed the overview of
basic computing operations and the types of computers available nowadays. Next, this
chapter explained the elements in Information System (IS). Finally, Islam and IT are also
mentioned in this chapter. Many of the terms and concepts introduced here will be discussed
further in later chapters.

23
GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
Access time – It is the time taken to locate an item on the storage medium and deliver the
item from memory to the CPU.
Bad sectors – Areas on the hard disk that have become damaged.
Capacity – is the amount of data the secondary storage can hold, measured in number of
bytes (or characters) stored on the secondary storage.
Cluster – is two or more sectors combined.
Cylinders – run through each track of multiple platters.
Data – Numbers, words, images or sounds that represent facts.
Hardware – All the machinery and equipment in a computer system that can be physically
touched.
Hard disk – is a circular platter or platters made of aluminium, glass or ceramic, coated with
metallic substance that allows data to be recorded magnetically.
Head crash – is when the read/write heads touch the surface of the disk due to the existence
of such particles or when dropping the computer while it is running. This phenomenon
creates scratches on the surface that may cause loss of data.
Information – Data that has been summarised and presented in a meaningful fashion for use
in decision making.
Information Technology (IT) – Any technology (the use of computer hardware and software)
that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate and/or disseminate information.
Information System (IS) – A system used to collect hardware, software, data, people,
procedures, and connectivity Data that has been summarised and presented in a meaningful
fashion for use in decision making.
The Internet (the "Net") – Worldwide computer network system that connect hundreds of
thousands of smaller networks for sharing purposes.
Mainframe – The second largest computer system after the supercomputer that is capable of
great processing speeds and data storage. It can support hundreds or thousands of users
simultaneously.
Media – or the physical media that hold data and instructions.
Microcomputer – It is also called personal computer (PC) that fits on or next to a desk or can
be carried around.
Network – A communications system that connects two or more computers.
Non-volatile – storage keeps its contents even after the power is off.

24
Operating System (OS) – A type of system software that controls the functions of a computer
system.
Real-time processing – Each transaction is processed immediately as it is entered.
Sectors – are the invisible wedge-shaped sections used to store data on a hard disk.
Server – A central computer in a network that holds collections of data and programs for
connecting PCs and other devices.
Software – Also called programs that tell the computer hardware how to perform a task.
Solid-state drives (SSDs) – use electronic memory or flash memory which stores data,
instructions and information in sections called blocks.
Storage devices – are the hardware that record or read data and instructions to or from the
storage medium.
Storage, secondary storage – or auxiliary storage, refers to the media that hold data,
instructions, and information for future use.
Supercomputer – A high-capacity computer with large number of processors to produce the
fastest calculating device.
Tracks – are circular lines or concentric rings on the hard disk
Transfer rate – is the time requires to read or write an item, from or to a device which is also
affecting the access time.
Volatile – means that RAM loses its contents when the computer power is switched off.

25
PRACTICES

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Which of the following operations constitutes the four basic operations of all
computers?
A. Input C. Hardware
B. Internet D. Programming

2. Which of the following is the smallest computer type?

A. Midrange computer C. Microcomputer
B. Mainframe D. Supercomputer

3. Supercomputers are used for _______________ .

A. playing online games C. keeping planets in orbit
B. reading e-mail D. forecasting weather

4. Which of the following is an advantage of computers?

A. High start-up cost C. Increasing the need of papers
B. Large amounts of storage D. Replacing the friendliness of trained
employees

5. Which of the following is NOT an essential part of an information system?

A. Data C. Processor
B. People D. Procedures

6. Which technology allows users to shift their desktop computing activities to computers
on the Internet?
A. Cloud computing C. Handheld computers
B. Distributed databases D. Wireless communications

26
7. The primary storage refers to ____________ .
A. RAM C. Optical Disc
B. Hard disk D. Solid-State Drive

8. Which of the following storage involves no mechanical movement in accessing data?

A. RAM C. SDDs
B. Hard Disk D. SSDs

9. The circular lines on the hard disk surface is called __________ .

A. tracks C. spiral tracks
B. cylinders D. concentric ring

10. The time required to retrieve data from a secondary storage is ________________ .
A. transfer rate C. retrieve time
B. access time D. rotation per minute

Short Answers
1. In an information system, the rules or guidelines for people to follow are called
____________.
2. The five types of personal computers are ____________.
3. The time taken for the read/write heads to locate the information stored on a hard disk.
________________________
4. A file allocation system for a newer operating system such as Windows 10 is known as
________________________
5. The magnetic disk that uses flash memory to speed up the starting process of a computer.
________________________

Discussions

1. Computer prices such as desktops, laptops and smartphones vary based on the their
specifications. So how can you decide to get the best computer for your own use? Discuss
the criteria to get a computer at an ideal price for a student. You may gather more
information by asking your friends which choices they have made when buying
computers. Did they feel satisfed or regret about the computer that they have chosen?

27
2. A computer can simulate (behave as) any other medium. It can play music like an MP3
player; it can show video as if it were a television; it can be programmed to serve as an
answering machine, and so forth. Computers are almost everywhere, and they affect
most walks of life. This is a future in which digital devices have replaced all the things they
can emulate. Has anything been made easier or harder in your life by the advance of
computers? What benefits to your life can you see in such a future? What risks can you
foresee?

3. Why solid-state drives require less energy to operate? Why are not all hard disks being
replaced by solid-state drives? In your opinion, will hard disks become obsolete in five-
year time?

28
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
IT TRENDS

41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define the trends of IT which includes Fourth Industrial (IR 4.0), the characteristic and
data analytic of Big Data, features of Internet of Things(IoT) and Cloud Computing
• Explain the pillars, impact and challenges of IR 4.0
• Describe the application, advantages and disadvantages of Big Data and Internet of
Things(IoT)
• Describe the components, usage, advantages and disadvantages of Cloud Computing

INTRODUCTION
Information technology has become an integral part of our daily life. The 21st century has
been defined by the numerous advancements in information technology. Information
technology has served as a big change agent in different aspects of business and society.
Furthermore, it has proven to be a game changer in resolving economic and social issues.

In recent years, technology innovations have significantly shaped the IT industry in many
sectors. IT becomes an essential need for the growth countries to develop potential and
opportunities in new technologies. It shows the evolution of IT trends have make changes to
this world in the coming years. There are few current IT trends that popular today, for
example cloud computing, wireless connectivity, industrial revolution (IR), Internet of Things
(IoT), big data and many more.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (IR) FROM 1.0 TO 3.0

We are living in the rapid advances of industrial technology. Industrial Revolution (IR) began
in the 18th century in Britain. IR identified as the changes process from human handicraft or
manual labor economy to industry and machine manufacturing. Many of the first IR
innovations began in the textile industry for example like Mexican Textile factory started to
be operated in 19th century. Making cloth moved from homes to large factories. It proved that
people will always been dependent on the usage of technology. Because of this phenomenon,
IR has evolved into four well-known stages which is start from Industrial Revolution 1.0 (IR
1.0), Industrial Revolution 2.0 (IR 2.0), Industrial Revolution 3.0 (IR 3.0) and the current stage
is Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0).

30
Figure 2-1 IR Stages

31
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (IR) 4.0
Today, we are in the current stage that known as IR 4.0. It is introducing the wide usage of
cloud technology, artificial intelligence (IR) and internet of things (IoT) by using machine
learning and cyber physical systems (CPS). CPS is one of the latest technology use in IR 4.0 by
presenting the way of communication between humans and the engineering system.
According to Ericsson.com in its blog mentioned that, CPS is a combination of software,
computer, network and physical process. Ericsson gives an example in future it may have a
situation where the machine, trucks, containers and other physical devices will communicate
each other to enhance the processing time while not waiting for humans.

It shows that, IR 4.0 targeted to produce better technology in automation,

interconnectivity, machine learning and real-time data. It will help a lot for industry and
manufacturing to produce more comprehensive product for the customers, can save more
time and budgets and also can upgrade the technology skills between the workers.

Figure 2-2 The Mapping of Industrial Revolution 4.0

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NINE PILLARS OF IR 4.0
There are nine (9) pillars of IR 4.0 to be highlighted and related with the latest and future
technology.

33
 Figure 2-3 Nine Pillars of IR 4.0

34
 In general, IR 4.0 will be the main indication in the modern technology today. It consists
of nine pillars of IR 4.0. These pillars are approaching from variety of technologies that apply
and use by people in this era. For example, big data is focusing more engaging the huge size
of data in autonomous system or machine and the data can be connected with other data
too. It shows that the manufacturing sectors will be improving in handling the big data and
will be processing their products in a short time. Thus, in the same time the data can be shared
and used by many people in other areas too.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF IR

In this revolution, there are few benefits and drawbacks that need to be identified for us to
learn something from this revolution.

Easy to get and purchase Overloading the rise

Advantages

the goods since it is of cities and

affordable and accessible. industrial towns.
Increase the speed of Produce more
labor-saving pollutions.
development. Increase the

Disadvantages
Speed up the growth of unhealthy lifestyles.
medicine. Increase of harmful
Expand the area of internet and
specialist professions. cybercrimes.

Figure 2-4 Advantages and Disadvantages of IR 4.0

35
THE IMPORTANCE OF IR 4.0

Figure 2-5 The Importance of IR 4.0

36
IMPACTS AND CHALLENGES OF IR 4.0

Figure 2- 6 Impacts and challenges of IR 4.0

IMPACTS
• More contributing to advance digital technologies such as:
- Mobile devices
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Advance Human-Machine Interfaces
- Authentication and fraud detection
- Smart Sensors
- Augmented Reality /Wearables
- Cyber Physical system
- Cognitive computing
• Increase human productivity
• Income inequality to skillful person that tend to use technology become more
productive
• Pollution to our planet by producing chemicals and toxic
• Machines and robots substitute human labor in manufacturing and warehouse

37
CHALLENGES
• Increase poverty and hunger between different level of socialization of income
• To understand the transformation business process
• New talent and skillful workers needed in the industry
• Process of digitalization and automation in many sectors
• The learning process of advanced manufacturing
• Implementing the sensor technology

In conclusion, IR 4.0 is playing a vital role in the industries and other sectors too. It involves
the nine pillars of IR 4.0 that work together with the cyber-physical systems in the real world
of industries. From this view, we can see that IR 4.0 encourages the workers to join and
enhance their skills by using the upgrading automation and interlinked system. Thus, it will
help the industry to solve many problems in fast pace and increase the quality and
productivity.

As of now, IR 5.0 is still in progress and it is an upgrading level of IR 4.0. Later, IR 5.0 will
improve more on human-capabilities, collaboration between computers, machines, robots
and human workers. It will enhance the usage of technology in IR 4.0 and emphasis on the
arrival of human hands and minds into the industrial framework.

According to MITI (2018), in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution

(4IR), the Industry4WRD: National Policy on Industry 4.0 was launched on
31 October 2018 to drive digital transformation of the manufacturing
and related services sectors in Malaysia. The Policy’s framework is as
follows:

https://www.miti.gov.my/index.php/pages/view/industry4WRD?mid=55
9#tab_547_1919

38
 Figure 2-7 MITI Industry 4WRD
Sources: https://www.miti.gov.my/index.php/pages/view/industry4WRD?mid=559#tab_547_1919

39
Concept Check
 Define Industrial Revolution (IR)
 Briefly explain the IR stages - IR 1.0, IR 2.0, IR 3.0, IR 4.0.
 Briefly explain the nine (9) pillars of IR 4.0
 List the advantages and disadvantages of IR 4.0

BIG DATA
Data has been defined in previous chapter and here we have other terms called Big Data. Big
Data is a collection of tremendously huge, fast and complex data sets that are difficult to
handle using traditional data processing applications. These data sets could be structured,
semi-structured and un-structured and have the potential to be mined for information. In
other words, Big Data is a field of data science that studies how massive data sets can be
collected, processed and analysed to extract information.

The following scenario explains Big Data phenomenon:

Smartphone is one of the most popular devices nowadays.
In 2020, there are about 3.5 billion people using it for their
daily activities such as communication, e-commerce, e-
learning and entertainment. But, how much data is
generated by their smartphones in the form of messages,
images, videos, phone calls, music and others?
Figure 2-8 Big Data
Phenomenon

A smartphone generates approximately one quintillion or 1018 bytes of data every month
and if this values multiply by 3.5 billion, the result is unimaginable. This gigantic amount of
data is what we called as big data.

Every human being generates approximately 1.8 megabytes of new information every
second in recent year, so the scale of big data is incalculable, and it is expected to reach 150–
200 zettabytes by 2025. Companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook store at
least 1,200 petabytes of information between them.

40
CHARACTERISTIC OF BIG DATA

The following table describes five characteristics of Big Data that also known as 5V.

Table 2-1 Characteristics of Big Data

Characteristics Descriptions
Volume the incredible amounts of information generated every second from
different sources such as social media, smartphones, sensors, images
and videos.
Variety type of data that is structured, unstructured, or semi-structured that
can be mined for information from a variety of sources.
Veracity the biases, noise and abnormality in the data set.
Value the amount of useful, accurate, and trustworthy data that must be
collected, processed, analysed, and insights discovered.
Velocity the rate at which data is processed and generated in a production
process flow in order to provide data on demand and at a faster pace.

BIG DATA ANALYTICS

Big Data Analytics is a method of extracting valuable information from large amounts of data,
such as hidden patterns, unknown associations, market trends, and customer preferences.
Big Data Analytics is used for risk management, product improvement and innovations, as
well as helping companies in making faster and better decisions.

There are four type of big data analytics:

• Descriptive analytics identifies what has happened and summarizes fast data into a
form that is understandable by humans.
• Diagnostic analytics is a form of advanced analytics that looks at data or content to
figure out why something happened. Data exploration, drill-down data mining, and
correlations are some of the techniques used.
• Predictive analytics uses statistics, modelling, data mining, and machine learning to
forecast what will happen in the future and build on suggested trends.
• Prescriptive analytics works in both descriptive and predictive analytics to
recommend a solution to a specific problem. Artificial intelligence and machine
learning are used much of the time.

41
APPLICATIONS OF BIG DATA
Big Data has a variety of application, including education, weather forecasting, media and
entertainment, healthcare, e-commerce, and social media networks.

Education

Big data analytics is quite significantly used in education area to

monitors students’ activities such as their preferred courses,
performance in the classroom, extracurricular, the amount of
time it takes them to complete an assessment, and a variety of
other factors in a student's educational climate. A report that
identifies a student's areas of interest, future career predictions
can be generated and based on this report, students’ result can
Figure 2-9 Big Data in
Education be improved, customize programs can be implemented and
targeted on international recruitment can be done.

Weather Forecasting

We receive a weather forecast report from the Malaysian

Meteorological Department (MET) to determine the weather
condition in Malaysia daily. MET uses big data to compile vast
weather forecasts, climate data, wind direction, precipitation,
and other information. All these data been analysed using a
weather prediction engine to generate reliable forecasts.
Figure 2-10 Big Data in
Weather forecast not only helps us in planning our daily activities
weather Forecast
but for our country to prepare for disaster such as flood, drought,
storm or phenomenon like el Niño.

Media and Entertainment

Big data analytics is being used by media and entertainment

companies to figure out what content, series, movies, and music
audiences are most likely to watch, as well as their favourite
channel. They will develop the best promotional and product
strategies based on the results of the analysis in order to attract
Figure 2-11 Big Data in and retain consumers, as well as provide targeted ads in the
media and entertainment right sense, at the right time, and in the right place.

42
Healthcare

Hospitals would be able to collect patient information and

monitor their output more effectively by implementing new
technology such as big data. Big Data allows for more
targeted healthcare and improved outcomes. Furthermore,
medical research can be conducted competently, and new
treatment and medicine can be found more quickly. Figure 2-12 Big Data in
Healthcare

E-commerce

E-commerce companies can make better decisions, gain a

competitive edge, and improve their profitability, products, and
operating processes by understanding their consumer behaviour
such as the consumer's emotions, attitudes and preferences using
real-time analytics. It also helps in the creation of product pricing and
Figure 2-13 Big Data promotions.
in E-commerce

Social Media networks

Big Data analytics provides social media data includes numbers
of likes, followers, shares, impressions or retweets. By tracking
trends, assessing interaction, and drawing insights will help
social media provider for example Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram to achieve marketing objectives more reliably and
effectively, such as optimising social content, informing content
strategy, monitoring brand image, and recognising influential Figure 2-14 Big Data
consumers. in Social Media

43
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BIG DATA
Cost reduction, improvement in decision making and increasing on production of new product
and services are some of the advantages of Big Data.

• Cost Reduction
Big data aids in the provision of business intelligence that can lower costs and increase
operational performance. Big data analytics can give companies insight into the impact of
different variables in the manufacturing process, allowing them to make more informed
decisions.

• Decision Making Improvement

Big data analytics can be used to analyse historical data and forecast the future. As a
result, businesses will make more informed choices and prepare for the future. They gain
a competitive advantage as well as a more flexible decision-making and risk-management
mechanism as a result.

• Produce new products and services

Big Data Analytics enables businesses to better understand trends in product demand and
supply, as well as changes in consumer behaviour, which aids in customer-oriented
marketing. By analysing customer needs, preferences, and purchasing habits can also help
to fuel the increased demand for personalised services.

Whereas privacy and security concern, requirement of the data analytic tools and
technical expertise are among the disadvantages of Big Data:

• Privacy and Security Concern

Customer privacy information, such as online transactions, orders, and subscriptions, can
be accessed by parent entities using data analytics. These databases can be shared
between companies for mutual benefit.

• Data Analytics tools needed

Choosing the right analytics tool can be difficult; some tools are complicated and require
intensive training, and the cost of the tool is dictated by the features and applications it
supports.

• Technical expertise required

Big data specialist and data scientists are among the most well-paid and sought-after IT
professionals. The cost of educating current employees or hiring experts to handle big data
will easily add up.

44
Concept Check
 Define Big data
 Briefly explain the characteristics of Big Data
 Describe the application of Big Data
 List the advantages and disadvantages of Big Data

INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an environment where electronic devices or objects that are
equipped with sensors, programs, and other technologies connected with other devices and
systems through the Internet in order for them to interact with each other in real time.

In the Internet of Things, there are three categories of things which are:
• Sensors that collect information and then send it.
• Computers that receive information and then act on it.
• Things that do both.

Artificial intelligence, connectivity, sensors, active engagement and small devices among
the main features of the Internet of Things (IoT).

• Artificial Intelligence

With the proper use of data, networks, and algorithms, artificial intelligence features
in the Internet of Things make things smarter. Our watch, for example, can be
converted into a smart device that monitors heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep.

• Connectivity

It's a connection between the various components of the Internet of Things

ecosystem, such as sensors, gateways, routers, apps, platforms, and other systems. It
usually refers to different kinds of network solutions based on their capacity, range,
and bandwidth needs.

• Sensors

The key reason this technology stands out is because of its sensors. They are crucial in
shifting the Internet of Things from a passive to an active network, defining its
boundaries.

45
 • Active Engagement

The Internet of Things connects technology, products, and services to encourage

active engagement between them.

• Small Devices

Over time devices are more powerful, cheaper and smaller, Internet of Things
purposely makes use of small devices to deliver its scalability, flexibility, and precision.

Application of Internet of Things

The range of the Internet of Things applications is wide, from small devices like smart watches
to large areas like smart cities. Here are some examples of how Internet of Things application
can improve the quality of our life such as smartwatches, smart homes, smart classrooms,
and so on.

The Internet of Things covers a wide variety of applications, from small devices like smart
watches to vast areas like smart cities. Let's see how some examples of how the Internet of
Things can enhance our quality of life such as smartwatches, smart home, smart classroom,
smart farming and smart cities.

Smartwatch

With the integration of the Internet of Things, it makes an ordinary

watch not only for timekeeping but it also has a variety of other
functions, like monitoring the heart rate, calculating the number of
steps, and offering reminders during the day. Besides, the data that
has been captured by a smartwatch can be transferred to other
Figure 2-15 devices such as smartphones or laptops via the Internet for analysis.
Smartwatch

Smart Home

A smart home is a residence equipped with various smart

appliances or devices such as the refrigerator, lights, cameras,
or the coffee maker that are connected to the Internet and
can be time-controlled using laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Smart home with automated heating and air conditioning
systems can save the energy and money.
Figure 2-16 Smart Home
46
Smart Classroom

A smart classroom is a technology-enhanced learning

classroom that improves the process of teaching and
learning. Digital screens, tabs, whiteboards, assistive
listening devices, and other audio/visual elements are
incorporated into the classroom, making lectures simpler,
Figure 2-17 Smart Classroom more engaging, and more interactive.

Smart Farming

Smart farming is refers to the use of digital technology such as

the Internet of Things (IoT), robots, drones, and artificial
intelligence (AI) to manage farms in order to increase the
quantity and quality of products and reduce the amount of
human labour at the same time. IoT devices can collect and
process data in a loop that involves observation, diagnostics,
decision, and intervention on a farm. In order to enhance the Figure 2-18 Smart Farming
farming process, farmers must be able to quickly adjust to new
challenges and changes in environmental conditions.

Smart Cities

A smart city is an urban area where data is gathered using a

variety of electronic and sensor methods. The data is used to
gain insights into how to manage assets, resources, and services
more effectively and also to improve operations in the region.
London, New York, and Amsterdam are the examples of
smartcities in this world.
Figure 2-19 Smart City
In Malaysia, a smart city is defined as "a city that uses advanced
ICT and technology to address urban issues such as improving quality of life, fostering
economic growth, creating a healthy and safe environment, and encouraging efficient urban
management practises." Malaysia plans to develop smart cities such as Iskandar Malaysia,
Putrajaya, and Smart Selangor by 2025. In a smart city there are six dimensions includes smart
governance, smart economy, smart mobility, smart living, smart environment and smart
people.

47
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF IOT
Access information, communication, cost-effective and automation are some advantages of
the Internet of Things.
• Access Information
Data and information that is stored distance from your current location can be
access in real time.
• Communication
Computer communication processes are improved through a network of
interconnected devices, resulting in better and faster performance and makes system
communication more straightforward and eliminates inefficiencies.
• Cost-effective
Using a connected network to transfer data saves time and money. The same data that used
a long time to transfer can now be transferred in a fraction of the time.

• Automation
Automation is useful for managing daily tasks without requiring human interaction,
which improves service quality.

Besides advantages, there are also the disadvantages of Internet of Things (IoT) in terms
of privacy and security, complexity, unemployment and dependability:
• Privacy and Security
One of the major disadvantages of exchanging information over the internet is the
possibility of being easily compromised by third parties. This result in data being
misused, which contributes to the rise of cybercriminals
• Complexity
A complex network that connects a variety of devices may introduce flaws that affect
the entire system. This is by far the most difficult part of the internet of things, but it
has huge potential.
• Increase Unemployment
The need for human labor would be greatly reduced when every job is automated.
This would have an immediate effect on one’s ability to find jobs.
• Dependability
The Internet of Things (IoT) has a significant impact on everyday life and, doubly, it is
a big part of our lives. People become useless and powerless if there are technology
failures such as no Internet access in their area.

48
 In Malaysia, the IoT industry is expected to generate over 14,000 new jobs
and contribute billions of ringgit to the economy.

According to MIMOS Bhd Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Wahab

Abdullah, Malaysia is well-positioned to become a regional hub for IoT, as the
country has strong foundations in the electronics and semiconductors
manufacturing industries -- which are an essential part of the entire IoT
ecosystem. MIMOS is the National R&D Centre in ICT.

https://www.investkl.gov.my/Relevant_News-@-
Malaysia_Gets_Serious_on_Developing_IoT_Ecosystem.aspx

Concept Check
 Define Internet of things (IoT)
 Briefly explain the features of Internet of things (IoT)
 Describe the application of Internet of things (IoT)
 List the advantages and disadvantages of Internet of things (IoT)

CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing is recognized as a virtual server environment that provides access to services
and resources through the Internet connection including software, databases, servers,
networking, storage and intelligence.

It is known as a home for storing and accessing the data and programs through Internet
connection and becomes a backup drive instead of using pen drive, external hard drive and
compact disc. The cloud is just an icon for the Internet. According to Rizwan and Priyanshu in
2018, stated that the cloud term is refer to the collection of networks that provide the
Internet connection for the user to access the data remotely. The purpose of cloud is to show
the connection between other clouds that contain variety of data, server and other
components of cloud computing.

Before the cloud computing existed, we can see that the usage of Internet is difficult in
terms of slow connection of data load, not enough storage in our physical server or hard drive
and even need more cost to develop new system and compute the desktop electrical power.
49
Since, the existence of cloud computing is close to the user, it means that all the data can be
accessing with fast, easy and offers broad connections.

Figure 2-20 Cloud Computing

Nowadays, everyone uses cloud computing to complete their daily task. For example, to
access email, watch online movies, play online games, conduct online class and meeting, do
online shopping and more. All these activities, will use the high capacity of storage, server and
require more time to load all the data using cloud computing from anywhere.

The first cloud computing services were introduced by Amazon in early 2000s and Google
started the document sharing for end users in late 2000s. Following are the services provided
by cloud computing:

Table 2-2 Services provided by cloud computing

Services Example

Store, back up and recover data Dropbox, iCloud

To create online database – eg Knack
Create new apps and services
Mobile apps – eg. Appery.io
Host websites and blogs Provide hosting on virtual servers – eg. CloudStore

Stream audio and video Youtube, Vimeo, MetaCafe and Netflix

Deliver software on demand Google Docs and Zoho Office

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Cloud Computing Architecture
Basically cloud computing consist of two parts which are the front-end and the back-end. The
front end is used by the end user and the back-end is used by the host to manage the whole
operation of cloud. Both end need to connect to each other with the Internet connection.

• Front End
It is used by the client to access the cloud computing which contains of the applications
and the interfaces. For example, apps created by the company itself or browser through
the Internet connection.

• Back End
It represents the cloud itself. It is used and managed by the companies to control all the
related facilities like data storage, network, servers, security system, traffic management
and virtual machines.

Components of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing architecture refers to the components and subcomponents required for
cloud computing. These components typically consist of a front end platform (client), back
end platforms (servers, storage), a cloud based delivery, and a network (Internet,
Intranet). These components make up cloud computing architecture.

One of the Cloud Service Provider in Malaysia is Exabytes Flexi Cloud Server which
provides Email Hosting, Business Web, Cloud Hosting and Domain Name Registration or
Renewal.

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 Figure 2-21 Cloud Computing Components

Types of Cloud Deployments

There are three different ways to deploy cloud computing resources: public cloud, private
cloud and hybrid cloud.

52
1. Public cloud

It belongs by a third-party of cloud service provider that offers the services and resources like
storage and servers with the Internet connection. It allows the end users to access all the
services (hardware, software and supporting infrastructure) as long as manage their own
account through the web browsers. Since, the services and resources are free, it is most
suitable to use by individual and not ideal for the company or organization. It is because public
cloud has lack of security and configuration to the organizations.

2. Private cloud

It is exclusively owned by a single

business or organization. It is
controlled and managed at the
company’s on-site data centre for
the services and infrastructure.
However, some of the companies or
organizations also hire the third-
party cloud service provider to
Figure 2-22 Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud
manage their private cloud with
payment. The private cloud offers scalability, automation, provisioning, monitoring and
flexibility in their cloud services.

3. Hybrid cloud

It offers a combination of public and private cloud arrangements with the technology that
allows data and applications to be shared between them. It gives better advancement of
cloud services, more deployment options and greater flexibility.

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EXAMPLES OF CLOUD COMPUTING USAGE

Figure 2-23 Cloud Computing Usage

54
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Table 2-3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

Advantages Disadvantages
● More Efficiency - Offer faster innovation ● Network Connection Dependency -
and flexible resources. Access speed and data transfer rate
depends on the Internet connection speed.
● Easy implementation – cloud provider ● Security Issues - File security depends on
allows business to remain the same the cloud service’s security procedures.
applications and business process without
having deal with technicalities.
● Accessibility and mobility – can access ● Lack of support - cloud providers fail to
data anywhere and anytime as long as provide proper support to the customer.
having Internet connection.

● Cost savings – free users from ● Risk of data privacy - Since all the data
maintenance and upgrade. are stored away from us and centralize, we
cannot protect the data from being used by
the cloud services provider. Hence, the data
are at risk of being used for any purpose by
the provider.
● Automatic Software Update - User do not • Less control of business assets – cloud
have to manually update the software from service provider is monitor and own the
time to time. cloud infrastructure.

Concept Check
 Define cloud computing
 Briefly explain basic components of cloud computing
 Describe types of cloud deployments
 List the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing

ISLAM AND IT

Whatever is in heavens and whatever is in the earth is Allah’s; and whatever you
manifest what is in your minds and hide it, Allah will call you to account according to
it Al-Baqarah(2):283

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SUMMARY
Nowadays, technology is growing very fast, enabling more changes happened in most of the
industries and give big impact to the society such as their daily live will depend more to the
devices compared to the humans. With the combination between the modern technology like
nine pillars of IR 4.0 and the Internet has shown us that the tasks can be completed in a rapid
way and it can save our time by producing more quality and quantity of the products. In
conclusion, the evolving of IT trends in every year will develop more IT professional in every
sector and variety fields.

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GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
Big Data – a collection of tremendously huge, fast and complex data sets that are difficult to
handle using traditional data processing applications.
Big Data Analytics – a method of extracting valuable information from large amounts of data,
such as hidden patterns, unknown associations, market trends, and customer preferences.
Cloud Computing – Delivery of computing services including servers, storage, databases,
networking, software, analytics and more over the Internet (“the cloud”)
Cloud computing architecture – Components and subcomponents required for cloud
computing.
Cyber Physical System (CPS) - a combination of software, computer, network and physical
process.
Descriptive analytics – identifies what has happened and summarizes fast data into a form
that is understandable by humans. These analytics helps in creating reports like company’s
revenue, profit, sales and so on.
Diagnostic analytics – describes why did it happen and looks into the cause of a problem. It
is characterized by techniques such as drill-down, data mining and data discovery.
Internet of Things (IoT) – is an environment where electronic devices or objects that are
equipped with sensors, programs, and other technologies connected with other devices and
systems through the Internet in order for them to interact with each other in real time
Predictive analytics – predicts what will happen and attempts to forecast the future using
statistics, modelling, data mining, and machine learning to improve in on suggested patterns.
Prescriptive analytics – prescribes the solution to a particular problem and it works with both
descriptive and predictive analytics. Most of the time it relies on artificial intelligence and
machine learning. Business rules, algorithms computational modelling procedures are used
in these analytics.
Smartwatch – is a watch that has varieties of features such as monitoring the heart rate,
calculating the number of steps, and offering reminders during the day not only just
timekeeping.
Smart Home – is a residence equipped with various smart appliances or devices such as the
refrigerator, lights, cameras, or the coffee maker that are connected to the Internet and can
be time-controlled using laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Smart Classroom – is a technology-enhanced learning classroom where equipments such as
digital screens, tabs, whiteboards, assistive listening devices, and other audio/visual elements
are incorporated into the classroom, making lectures simpler, more engaging, and more
interactive.

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Smart Farming – is refers to the use of digital technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT),
robots, drones, and artificial intelligence (AI) to manage farms in order to increase the
quantity and quality of products and reduce the amount of human labour at the same time
Smart Cities – is an urban area where data is gathered using a variety of electronic and sensor
methods. The data is used to gain insights into how to manage assets, resources, and services
more effectively and also to improve operations in the region
Volume – the incredible amounts of information generated every second from different
sources such as social media, smartphones, sensors, images and videos.
Variety – data that is structured, unstructured, or semi-structured that can be mined for
information from a variety of sources.
Veracity – the quality of the data is being analysed. High veracity of data contribute in a
meaningful way to the overall results.
Value – the amount of valuable, reliable and trustworthy data that needs to be stored,
processed, analysed and found insights.
Velocity – the speed of data that has been stored and generated in a particular development
process flow to provide data on demand and at a faster pace. Twitter messages or Facebook
posts is an example of a data that is generated with high velocity

58
PRACTICES

Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Which of IR evolution is started to use computer and automatic machine?
A. Industrial Revolution 1.0 C. Industrial Revolution 3.0
B. Industrial Revolution 2.0 D. Industrial Revolution 4.0

2. Below are 9 pillars of IR 4.0 EXCEPT?

A. Big Data C. Internet of Things
B. Fiber Optic D. Additive Manufacturing

3. Which of the following characteristic of Big Data is refer to the type of data that is
structured, unstructured, or semi-structured that can be mined for information from a
variety of sources?
A. Volume C. Variety
B. Value D. Velocity

4. Which application of Big Data helps the companies to achieve marketing objectives more
reliably and effectively, such as optimizing social content, informing content strategy,
monitoring brand image, and recognizing influential consumers?
A. Media and Entertainment C. E-commerce
B. Social Media Network D. Businesses

5. Which features shift the Internet of Things from a passive to an active network?
A. Artificial Intelligence C. Connectivity
B. Active Engagement D. Sensor

6. Choose the disadvantages of the Internet of Things from the following

A. Dependability C. Automation
B. Cost-effective D. Access Information

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7. Which of the following is NOT the devices that incorporated in smart classroom?
A. Digital screen C. Whiteboard
B. Google Classroom D. Tabs

8. A private cloud refers to _____________________________

A. cloud computing resources used exclusively by a single business or organization.
B. a combination public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows
data and applications to be shared between them.
C. clouds that are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider, which
deliver their computing resources like servers and storage over the Internet.
D. a group of hardware, software and other supporting infrastructure that managed by
the cloud provider.

9. Which advantages refer to cloud computing?

A. Increase labor saving development C. Speed up the growth of medicine
B. Update software automatically D. Increase the unhealthy lifestyles

10. Given below are examples of cloud computing usage. Which pair of cloud computing
usage is NOT CORRECT?
Cloud Computing Example
A. Cloud apps e-mail
B. Social media Instagram, Facebook
C. Cloud storage Wideo, Powtoon
D. Online streaming Youtube

Short Answers

1. ___________________________ is a form of advanced analytics that looks at data or

content to figure out why something happened. Data exploration, drill-down data mining,
and correlations are some of the techniques used.

2. The rate at which data is processed and generated in a production process flow in order
to provide data on demand and at a faster pace refers to ________________.

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3. ___________________ is referring to the use of digital technology such as the Internet of
Things (IoT), robots, drones, and artificial intelligence (AI) to manage farms in order to
increase the quantity and quality of products and reduce the amount of human labor at
the same time

4. ________________________________________________________________________
among the main features of the Internet of Things (IoT).

5. _______________________ is a way of communication between humans and the

engineering system in IR 4.0.

6. Develop new talent and skillful workers needed in the current and future industry is one
of the _____________________ occur in IR 4.0.

7. There are three different methods to apply the cloud computing, which are
_____________________________________________________________.

8. ________________________ is managed by the cloud companies to control all the

related facilities like storage, network and server.

Discussions

1. Velocity is one of the characteristics of Big Data. Describe the velocity in the Travel and
Tourism area.

2. Discuss the impact of Big Data in Malaysia economy.

3. The Smart car is one of the applications of the Internet of Things which are not included
in this chapter. Discuss how IoT can handle and solve the problem of the car.

4. What are industries (for example- automotive) available in Malaysia that are using and
applied IR 4.0. Name the industries/companies and give examples of tasks using IR 4.0.

5. Discuss why IR 4.0 needed in most industries and the importance of it.

6. Discuss Cloud Computing in Malaysia. Explain about the providers and their services.

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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
SOFTWARE

12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Describe the differences between system software and application software

• Identify the four categories of software ownership

• Identify the four types of system software

• Explain the basic functions of operating system and system utilities

• Identify general purpose, specialized and mobile application software

• List the types of general purpose and specialized application software and the function of
each type

• Give examples of general purpose, specialized and mobile applications and their basic
features

• Identify software packages and give example of software packages

INTRODUCTION
Computers without software would be useless. Without an operating system, you would not
be able to use your computer. Without a word processing program, you would not be able
to prepare your documents. People use software to manage business processes,
communicate with employees, complete assignments, prepare flyers for events and many
other purposes. The aim of this chapter is to discuss about software and its categories.

SOFTWARE DEFINITION
Software, also known as programs, is the instructions that are used by computers or other
devices to perform various operations and functions.

SOFTWARE OWNERSHIP
Every software must have creator or author. The author of the software is the one who owns
the copyright of the software source code. Ownership of the software source code is
important. The copyright owner is the only one who has the right to modify the source code,
copy, distribute or sell the software for profit gain. Under the copyright law, the copyright
owner is granted the exclusive rights for its use and distribution.

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Software ownership can generally be fitted into the following categories:
• Commercial software
Commercial software or also known as proprietary software is software owned by an
individual or an organization. Commercial software can be bought, leased or licensed
from its developer or manufacturer. It is a closed source software which means users may
use the software but cannot make any change on the source code.
• Open source software
The main objective of using open source software (OSS) is to reduce the total cost of
software ownership. Generally, OSS allows anyone to create a new version by modifying
the software. It can be modified to be used on different operating systems or processors,
or even share the software with others. The intention of OSS is not only to make a reliable
software which is easily accessible and marketable, but also to make it easy to understand,
allows it to be modified and duplicated.

In 1983, the free software movement was launched. Later in 1998, the term free
software was replaced by open source software (OSS). It was suggested that the term OSS
is less ambiguous and less confusing with regard to the commercial domain. There is a
claim that the open source movement began since 1969, when the Internet started.
• Freeware
Freeware is a software, most often, proprietary software that is free. However, there are
limitations on its use and the source code is kept secret by the software manufacturer.
When using freeware, full features are available to the user.
• Shareware
Shareware is a type of proprietary software which is initially free of charge to users. After
a certain period, users may have to purchase the software in order to use them. When
using shareware, most of the times, full features are not available to the user.

64
 Table 5-1 Comparison between commercial software, freeware, shareware and open
source software

Proprietary Software
Open Source Software
Commercial Freeware Shareware

Most are available for

Not free Free Free on a trial basis
free

Copyrighted
Source code is kept secret by the manufacturer/producer
Source code is available
(closed source)

Can modify the source

Cannot modify the source code
code

Cannot be copied, Can be copied and

Subject to the conditions defined by the
distributed to other distributed to other
owner
users users

Created by open source

Normally created by an individual or a company
community

Examples
Operating system – Utilities –WinRAR Utilities - GoodSync
Windows, MacOS (file backup and Operating system –
Application – file synchronization Linux, Ubuntu, KaiOS (for
Utilities – Norton Google Chrome, software), smartphones)
Utilities, System GOM Player FileScavenger
Cleaner 7 (undelete and
recovery program) Utilities – ClamAV
(antivirus software),
Application – Application – Corel UltraDefrag
Microsoft Office WordPerfect Office

Assuming your company needs software, but your budget is limited. Can you make copies
of the software to cater for your company’s needs? How about if you are a lecturer and you
require your students to use certain software for assignments. Can you make copies for
educational purposes? No might be the answer for these questions. Therefore, other
alternative for these two situations would be looking at freeware or open source software.

65
Concept Check

 What is the difference between freeware and shareware?

 Give an example of commercial software.

SOFTWARE TYPES
The two main types of software are application software and system software. Application
software are considered as end-user software because they are mostly used by users to
complete their daily tasks. Meanwhile, system software is programs installed in a computer
to control and work with the computer hardware.

Figure 3- 1 Example of software

System Software
When we use a computer, we expect the machine to take care of the specific work behind
the scenes. For example, when we switch on the PC, we want the PC to be ready to be used.
The programs will manage and control the devices in the computer system, take care of the
computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, memory and hard disk. Other programs help to
connect and interact with the external devices to the computer system. As an example,
before a new printer can work, the computer must first detect the printer. Installing the
necessary program will initiate communication between the printer and the computer.

When you browse the Internet and download many files onto your computer hard disk,
eventually the hard disk will be full. Saving files to and retrieving files from the computer will
become slower. When this happens, you need to let a program to clean up the hard disk and
rearrange the files in order to improve the performance of your computer. What about if you
have found some useful information from the Internet and want to download it? The
downloading time will take a long time if the file is huge. To shorten the downloading time,
it is best to compress the file. These are some examples of why a computer needs the system
software to handle these technical details.

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Definition of system software
System software is a collection of many programs that handle the operations of computer
hardware. System software allows users to interact with the application software. At the
same time, system software works with the computer hardware to deal with the majority of
technical details with little or no user intervention. Often the user does not know that most
of the computer tasks are performed by the system software. From the time the user turns
on the computer, the system software will start interacting and handling the technical details.

Types of system software

There are four types of system software.
1. Operating systems are programs to coordinate all activities among the computer
hardware devices, provide the interface for the computer users, and run all application
software.
2. Utilities are programs to manage and maintain the general housekeeping tasks for the
computer such as performing backup and recovering damaged files.
3. Device drivers are programs that allow the computer to communicate with the external
devices which are connected to its system unit.
4. Language translators are programs that translate the instructions, in the form of codes in
certain programming language, into machine language.

Concept Check

 What is the purpose of system software?

 What are the types of system software?

Operating System
The operating system (OS) is a set of programs to manage and control the whole operations
of a computer system. OS allows interaction between the end users, the application software
and the computer hardware. The operating system is the most important component of
system software. The computer will not be functioning without an OS. The operating system
normally assists the user by performing the tasks quietly without the user being aware of it.
The operating system coordinates all the hardware components including the CPU, memory,
and the storage devices as well as input output devices such as the monitor and printer, or
simply known as peripheral devices.

67
 Almost every type of computer, from the simplest gadget, like your smartwatch, to the
complicated supercomputer, needs an operating system. Each operating system performs
various functions based on the tasks required and number of users that access the computer
system. Supercomputers, personal computers, game consoles and smartphones need their
own specific operating systems to carry out the tasks they need to perform.

Basic functions of Operating System

The operating system (OS) acts like a traffic police officer. One of the responsibilities of a
traffic police officer is to patrol the traffic against congestion to make the traffic smooth. The
main responsibility of the operating system is to keep the traffic of data and information
running smoothly between the user, application program and the hardware components.

Figure 3- 2 The operating system acts as the interface among the hardware, application
software and the user

The basic functions of the operating system are illustrated in Figure 5-3.

Figure 3- 3 Basic functions of Operating System

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Booting and shutting down

Booting refers to the process of starting or restarting the computer. A cold boot is when you
turn on a computer that has been turned off completely. A warm boot is when you restart a
computer which is already running. During the process of booting, there are four steps
involved:
1. The CPU activates the program called BIOS (basic input/output system) which is stored
on the computer’s ROM chip. BIOS program prepares the computer to accept the input
from the keyboard and display information on the screen.
2. The BIOS checks a series of tests to ensure the computer and the peripheral devices are
functioning well. This process is called POST (power-on self-test). Among the
components tested are the computer’s RAM, disk drive, hard disk, keyboard and mouse.
If this POST failed, you will get an error message on the screen.

Figure 3- 4 Booting process

3. The operating system is loaded into RAM. It means that the operating system program
will be copied from the storage device, such as hard disk or solid state drive, to memory
and will stay in the memory the entire time the computer is turned on. At this point, the
operating system takes control of the computer, for example, to manage the processor
and other components of the computer system.
4. Configuration and customization settings are checked. For Microsoft Windows, the
database of information for this configuration is stored in the registry. The registry
contains the configuration and other applications such as display setting of the desktop
and mouse setting.

A computer needs to be shut down in a controlled way so that power is removed from
the computer’s main components, including RAM and hard disk drives. However, power may
still be retained in some internal components such as an internal clock.

69
Provide user interface
A user needs to interact with the computer. The part of a program that allows the user to
control and to interact with the program is known as user interface. The two types of user
interface are command line interface and graphical user interface (GUI).

In a command line interface, the user needs to type commands in order to interact with
the OS. Specific codes are typed to perform specific tasks. DOS (Disk operating system) used
command line interface to operate the microcomputers in 1980s. An example of command
used in a command line interface is DIR (for “directory”). This command instructs the
computer to display a directory list of all folders and file names on a disk.

Figure 3- 6 DIR Command in Command Line Interface

Figure 3- 5 Graphical user interface

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 With GUI, the user interacts with the operating system using graphical objects such as
icons, buttons, dialog boxes, windows, menus, ribbons, etc. In 1995, Microsoft released its
Windows 95 which used GUI.

Run application programs

The operating system coordinates the CPU to get the program instructions or computer codes
from the application program, for example word processors, to process the data. Most
operating system support multitasking. This means the users could open two or more
application programs at the same time. The CPU does not actually run two or more programs
at the same time; rather, it switches between different programs stored in memory.

Manage hardware
The operating system handles basic tasks which includes controlling various peripheral
devices such as the printer, keyboard and mouse. Most operating systems today are
equipped with Plug and Play capability where a device will automatically be identified and
configured with no user manipulation of the computer system. When a user connects a
device without Plug and Play capability, he will be prompted to insert the driver program
required for that device. However, if the driver is not available on hand, the user must search
the necessary driver from related website.

Manage system resources

The operating system also coordinates system resources including the computer's memory
and the central processing unit (CPU). The CPU is required to handle various applications or
peripheral devices at the same time. Although the CPU is able to perform several tasks at
once, processing all the instructions or calculations will demand the operating system to
organize and systematically execute all the activities.

Data and instructions that the CPU needs to process is stored temporarily in RAM. These
data and instructions will be removed from RAM once they are no longer needed by the CPU.
OS coordinates these activities and it will ensure that the space in the RAM is enough to store
the next instructions and data.

Provide file management

The operating system also provides a way to organize the files and folders (directories) which
are located in the computer disks. The OS allows users to easily perform various tasks onto

71
the files and folders, such as to rename, copy, move and delete the files and folders, using file
management feature.

Figure 3- 7 File management

Categories of Operating System

There are three basic categories of Operating System.

1. Embedded Operating System
This category of operating system is stored or embedded within a device like smartphones,
tablets, TV tuner boxes, game systems and other small gadgets. Embedded operating systems
are also known as realtime operating systems (RTOS). Mobile operating system falls under
this category. Examples of mobile OS are Android and iOS.

2. Desktop or Stand-Alone Operating System

The operating system for this category is located on the computer’s hard disk. Examples of
desktop operating system are Windows, Mac OS, UNIX and Linux. Desktop operating system
is also known as Client operating system. This system supports a single user and used to
manage different components of the smartphones and small computer devices.

3. Network Operating System

This category of OS is used to control and coordinate computers on a network. Network OS
are usually located on the network server which coordinates all communications among the
computers which are connected to the network. Examples of Network OS are Linux,
Windows Server and UNIX.

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Examples of Operating System
If you have a laptop or a desktop computer, your computer will not be functioning without
first installing the operating system. Some of the operating system are commercial software
while others are free downloadable. Examples of commercial operating system are Microsoft
Windows 10 and Mac OS X. Some examples of open source operating system are Linux,
Ubuntu and OpenSuse. If you are using a smart phone or a tablet, the operating systems are
known as mobile operating system. Examples of these operating systems are Android and
iOS.

The earliest version of the operating system for personal computers was called DOS (Disk
Operating System). MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) was an operating system
developed by Microsoft for IBM PC that used the command-line user interface. It was
developed for 16-bit Intel microprocessors and worked with only 640KB of RAM at a time.

Figure 3- 8 The screenshot of Ubuntu 20.04

Open source specifies an unlimited use, modification and redistribution

of open source software. Software licenses allow users rights to use,
modify and redistribute, which are normally forbidden by copyright.
OSS is often developed by collaboration of community or volunteers.

Concept Check

 What are the basic functions of the operating system?

 What are the basic categories of the operating system?

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Open source operating system
The following are some examples of open source operating system available to download.

Table 5-2 Examples of Open Source Operating System

No Example Logo

1. Linux

2. Ubuntu

3. Gentoo

4. Redhat (for enterprises)

5. Debian

6. Fedora

7. OpenSUSE

Ubuntu
Ubuntu is an operating system that is developed by a group of programmers from the whole
world together with the employees of Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, Canonical Group Ltd.
Ubuntu is created based on the idea of open-source software. Therefore, users do not pay
any licensing fee for Ubuntu. Users can freely download, use, and share the software.

Ubuntu is developed with the focus on sharing the knowledge of information technology
with the community. Individual contributions will not only benefit the members of the open
source community, but also to develop friendship between them. The fact that it is free,
allows every computer user from individual to businesses to download and access the
software as they like, without having to pay any license fee.

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 Contrast to the commercial software such as Windows and MacOS, software used for daily
computing are provided free of charge by Ubuntu. The user-friendliness and choice of
available applications make Ubuntu as one recommendation for novice open source users.
Some examples of application software are:
• Office Suite: a full office suite with a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation
software. Examples are Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice.
• Desktop Client e-mail: Evolution, an e-mail program with an interface similar to Microsoft
Outlook. Another example is Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Web Browser: Examples are Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Flock.
• Database: PostgreSQL and MySQL are the two best-known open source database
programs, but commercial database programs such as Oracle and IBM's DB2 are also
available. Glom is an example of tools that provide an easy-to-use graphical interface for
designing and editing databases.
To download Ubuntu operating system, visit the Ubuntu's Web site,
http://www.ubuntu.com.

Features of Ubuntu
The features include:

Figure 3- 9 Ubuntu Desktop

Figure 3- 10 Menu

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 Figure 3- 12 Qalculate! (calculator)
Figure 3- 11 BleachBit (cleaning utility)

Figure 3- 13 Photo Flare (image editor) Figure 3- 14 Pithos (Pandora Radio client
for Linux)

Utilities
Utilities are programs to manage and maintain the general housekeeping tasks for the
computer. These programs are small and specifically designed for certain tasks to make
computing easier. Most operating systems provide their own utilities. However, there are
other powerful utility programs which are sold separately or bundled as utility suites.

Types of utilities
Some examples of important utilities are:
• Antivirus programs
This program helps to protect your computer system against viruses or any threat that
might invade your computer system. Examples of antivirus are Bitdefender, Kaspersky,
and McAfee Antivirus.

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 • File compression programs
This program helps to reduce the file size to save the storage space and to make sending
the files over the Internet more efficient. Examples are WinZip and WinRAR.
• System maintenance programs
These programs help to manage system resources. Some examples of system
maintenance programs are
o Backup programs. Backup programs help to make copies of files in case the
originals are lost or damaged. Examples of backup programs are Windows File
History, Paragon Backup & Recovery and CrashPlan.
o Troubleshooting programs. This program helps to identify and correct any
problem in your computer before they become serious. Examples of
troubleshooting programs are Windows Disk Cleanup, Windows Task Manager,
Optimize Drive and Free PC Audit. Free PC Audit is a freeware that provides
information for the system, hardware and software. It extracts details of all
components of the PC, shows installed software with version and product key.

Figure 3- 15 Free PC Audit interface

Table 3-3 shows the steps on how to use Disk Cleanup, a utility program in Windows,
which allows you to identify and remove non-important files. This is necessary if you want to
free up your disk space.

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 Table 3-3 Steps to use Disk Cleanup

Step No. Process

• Search for Disk cleanup from the taskbar and select it from the list of results.
• Select the drive you want to cleanup and click OK

• Wait until the program identify files that you can delete

• Select the files that you want to delete and click OK

• Wait until the program cleans the selected files

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 Another way to increase storage devices performance is to use the Optimize Drives tool.
Optimize Drives is a utility program in Windows 8 and above, which identifies and removes
unnecessary fragments and rearranges files and unused disk space to increase disk
performance.

Figure 3- 16 Optimize Drives tool

Besides using the utility program offered by your operating system, you can also use open
source tools. Examples of open source tools in Windows include:
• WinContig
WinContig can be used to quick defragment files without the need to defragment the
whole disk.

Figure 3- 17 WinContig interface

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 • AMANDA Network Backup
It allows users to make copies of
files/directories to various types of
media, such as tape drives, disks or
optical media.

Figure 3- 18 Amanda Network Backup

• 7-ZipFile Manager

This software can be used to

compress and decompress files.

Figure 3- 19 Zip File Manager

• ClamWin

This is an antivirus software.

Figure 3- 20 ClamWin

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Device Drivers

Imagine a car without a driver. Will it be useful? It is absolutely not. The same goes for a
component that is connected to a computer system. Every device, such as a printer or disk
drive, needs to have a special program associated with it. This program is known as a device
driver. It works with the operating system to allow communication between the device and
the rest of the computer system. It acts like a translator between the device and the program
that use the device.

Before you can use a device in your computer, you must install a device driver. There are
drivers that come with the operating system such as the keyboard driver. In DOS systems,
drivers are files with a “.sys” extension. In Windows environments, drivers often have a “.drv”
extension.

Language Translators

Figure 3- 21 Examples of Language

Language translators are computer programs that convert the instructions written in a
programming language into a language that computers understand and can process. Java
interpreter is one example of a language translator.

APPLICATION SOFTWARE
Application software is categorized into three: general purpose applications, specialized
applications and mobile applications (also known as mobile apps).

General-Purpose Applications
Also known as basic applications, general purpose applications are programs which are the
most widely used, regardless of the user’s field or job specialization. These programs include

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word processors, spreadsheets, presentation graphics and database management system
or DBMS. The functions of these four types of software are briefly stated in Table 3-4.

Table 3-4 General Purpose Applications

Software type Function

Word processor To create a text based document
Spreadsheet To organize, analyze and graph numerical data
Presentation graphics To create an interesting visual presentation
DBMS To organize and manipulate large amounts of data in
a database

Word processor
A word processing program is a very widely used software. This type of software is used to
create a variety of text-based documents such as letters, reports, memos and any kind of
written materials. One of the most commonly used word processors is Microsoft Word.
Other examples are WPS Writer, Apple Pages and Corel WordPerfect. Examples of open
source word processors are LibreOffice Writer, Calligra Words and AbiWord. Word
processors are also available online, for example Google Docs and Zoho Writer.

Some of the features of a word processor are:

• Annotation: Users can add in comments to certain parts of the document to enhance
the edit and review process of the document.
• Bullets and Numbering: Users can add numbering or bulleting to a list or sentences,
automatically.
• Graphics: Users can embed pictures from files or clip arts, as well as charts from
spreadsheets.
• Headers, Figures and Page Numbering: Users can add any information in the header
or footer section. Any figures in the document can be easily labeled with captions
which makes the document easier to read. In the footer part, users can add page
numbering.
• Footnotes and cross-references: Users can add footnotes then place and number
them automatically. This allows users to do cross-referencing between sections in the
document easily.

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 • Spelling and Grammar Checker: Users can check for any typing or spelling error. This
feature supports a variety of languages. In order to change to a preferred language,
the user can go to the Review tab, click Language and choose the preferred proofing
language.
• Thesaurus: Users can look for the synonyms of a particular word in the document.
• Word Wrap: This feature automatically brings the cursor to the next line when the
current line has reached the margin. Once the margin is changed, the text in the line
will be readjusted.

Spreadsheet
The spreadsheet program is used to organize numbers, analyse them as well as create graph
to visualize the numerical data. For instance, lecturers use spreadsheet to record students’
marks and calculate grade point average (GPA). Furthermore, lecturers can create graphs to
analyse the results.

One of the most commonly used spreadsheet programs is Microsoft Excel. Other
examples are Corel Quattro Pro, WPS Spreadsheets and Apple Numbers. Examples of open
source spreadsheet programs are LibreOffice Calc and Apache OpenOffice Calc. Spreadsheet
programs are also available online, for example Google Sheets and Zoho Sheet. Spreadsheet
programs create a workbook file which may contain many worksheets.

Some of the features of a spreadsheet program are:

• Worksheet: Worksheet contains cells which are used to store the data.
• Formula: A formula is an instruction for calculations. It calculates results based on
the values given or by referring to the contents of the cell references used in the
formula. Example shown in Figure 5-24, the cell F3 contains the formula "=D3*E3",
which multiplies the values in cell D3 (i.e. 70) with the values in cell E3 (i.e. $1.50) to
produce $105.00 as displayed on the worksheet.

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 Figure 3- 22 Sample data on a spreadsheet showing the use of formula

• What-If analysis/Recalculation: The result of a calculation will be affected if any

element in the formula is changed. This observation is called what-if analysis or
recalculation. In Figure 5.24, if the value in cell D9 is changed to 50, the result in cell
F9 will be automatically recalculated to $200.00
• Graphs and Charts: Charts can be used to present numerical data on worksheets in
visual form. For example, Figure 5-25 shows a pie chart that has been created to
display the total sales in April 2017.
• Dynamic File Links: This feature is used for linking cells in a worksheet to cells in
another worksheet which is in the same file or in a different file. This dynamic feature
allows automatic updates onto the linked cells if changes are made to any of the cells
in one of the worksheets.

Figure 3- 23 Sample pie chart

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Presentation Graphics
Presentation graphics program is used by sales or marketing people, teachers or even
students to create presentations that may include text and images, sound, video, music files,
as well as links to other files or websites.

One of the most commonly used presentation graphics programs is Microsoft PowerPoint.
Other examples are Apple Keynote, Corel Presentations and WPS Presentation. Examples of
open source presentation graphics programs are OpenOffice Impress, LibreOffice Impress and
Showcase. Presentation graphics programs are also available online, for example Google
Slides and Prezi. Some basic features of presentation graphics programs are:
• Links: Links allow user to navigate through the presentation slides or to other files, or
to web pages.
• Slide Show Animation: Animations make the slide show more interesting.
• Slide Design: Slide designs allow users to select a design from design templates
provided. The templates have included color schemes, slide and title masters with
custom formatting, and styled fonts.
• Multimedia: Audio and video elements can be added to a slide to make it more
appealing.
• Voice narration: Users can record their voice as narration for the slides.
• Charts, tables: Users can create tables and organizational charts.

Database Management System (DBMS)

A database is an organized collection of related data. A DBMS is the program that is used to
set up an electronic database. In a university, databases are used to store students’
information, courses offered and lecturers handling the course. Most organizations store
employees’ information in databases too.

One of the most commonly used DBMS is Microsoft Access. Other examples are Oracle
RDBMS and IBM DB2. Examples of open source DBMS are Cubrid, FireBird and MySQL. There
are also online platforms such as Knack and Amazon RDBMS. Some basic features of DBMS
are:
• Table: A table stores data. Each table has rows called records and columns called fields.
Fields are discrete pieces of information. Each field is assigned a specific data type to
ensure the correct type of information is entered into the field.

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• Form: A form enables users to enter or manipulate data by providing user friendly
interfaces.
• Query: A query allows users to extract specific information from a table.
• Report: Users can print their own customized reports based on the selected criteria.

Concept Check
 What is general purpose application?
 What is the function of word processor, spreadsheet, presentation graphic and DBMS?
 Name examples of general-purpose applications.

Specialized Applications

Unlike general purpose applications, specialized applications are more specific and focus on
a certain job or profession. For example, there are software specifically used in graphic
related jobs, some software are for creating and editing multimedia files, while some other
software are meant for creating web documents. The most popular specialized software are
discussed in this section.

Graphics Program
Professionals in graphics arts deal with graphics related works. These professionals
manipulate graphics using various types of software which are specially designed for the jobs.
These include desktop publishing, image editing and drawing programs. Below are the
details of these programs.

Table 3-5 Types of Graphics Software

Type of software Function Example

Desktop publishing • Mix text and graphics to create Microsoft Publisher,
or page layout publications of professional quality, such Adobe InDesign,
as brochures, newsletters, textbooks QuarkXPress
• Focus on page design and layout
• More flexible
Image or photo • Edit or modify digital photos called Adobe Photoshop,
editing bitmap or raster images which consist of Corel PaintShop Pro,
pixels GIMP (GNU Image
• Bitmap images become jagged when Manipulation
expanded Program), Canva

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Type of software Function Example
Drawing or • Create and edit vector images which use Adobe Illustrator,
Illustration geometric shapes defined by math CorelDRAW, Inkscape
program equations
• Used for graphic design, page layout,
create sharp artistic image

Figure 3- 24 Microsoft Publisher

Figure 3- 25 Canva

Other than using these three types of software, graphics arts professionals also import
text or graphics from other sources such as word processors, digital cameras, scanners and
image galleries.

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 Image galleries contain a lot of electronic images. The images are either clip art or stock
photograph. Clip art is any graphic illustration, while stock photographs are photos ranging
from people to landscape. Some clip art galleries are provided in certain applications such as
Microsoft Word. There are also web-based image galleries, such as shown in Table 3-6, which
provides free images or by charging the user.

Table 3-6 Web Based Image Galleries

Image galleries Website

Classroom Clipart classroomclipart.com
iStock www.istockphoto.com
Flickr www.flickr.com
Pixabay pixabay.com
Pexels pexels.com
Kaboompics kaboompics.com

Concept Check

 What are the types of graphic specialized software?

 What is the function of desktop publisher, image editor and drawing programs?

 Name examples of graphic specialized programs.

 List examples of image galleries.

Audio and Video editor

Audio and video editing software are specifically used to create and edit sound clips and video
clips. The software is able to combine video clips into a nice movie clip. Among the popular
software are iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro and Filmora. Other examples include
Lightworks, OpenShot and Magisto.

Web Authoring Software

A website allows business companies to promote their products or services. Individuals also
create personal websites just like an online diary or simply called blog. Creating a website or
web authoring can easily be done nowadays. Specific program such as Adobe Dreamweaver,
KompoZer and Komodo Edit can be used to create web pages or web documents. These types
of programs allow users to create web pages even without knowing HyperText Markup
Language (HTML) codes. This is referred to as WYSIWYG or “What You See Is What You Get”,
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simply because the HTML codes are automatically generated by the program, and users can
preview the web pages directly. HTML codes can also be created in any word processor such
as Microsoft Word or Notepad.

A website can have multimedia elements to make it interactive and interesting to viewers.
One of the commonly used multimedia elements is animation. Animation can be in the form
of moving text or even more complicated features. A specialized program such as Adobe
Animate is used to create animation that can be part of the website.

Another technology which is also used in creating website is Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
CSS is commonly used to standardize the styles for web pages, such as the design, layout and
variations in display for different devices and screen sizes. CSS helps related web pages to
have a consistent look.

Designing a website may begin with planning the overall design using a graphical site map.
The map uses boxes to represent each web page, with lines connecting the boxes
representing the link between them. The homepage of a website is normally the first or the
main page that contains the introduction and table of contents leading to the following pages
with more specific information.

Figure 3- 26 Example of graphical

Concept Check

 How do you design a website?

 What is HTML?

 What is WYSIWYG web authoring software?

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Video Game Design Software
Now, everyone can create a video game using video game design software such as Twine,
Stencyl, and Game Maker. Before creating a video game, developers need to prepare a
prototype. A prototype allows developers see how the game plays, allows developers to
improve the design, and forms the foundation to make a full game.

• Twine
Twine is a free program that uses a visual editor with codes and syntax which are easy to
understand. Developers will enter story text and commands into a series of linked nodes.
Twine allows developers to embed photos, music, and even other flash games. Examples
of games made in Twine are Howling Dogs and Afterward.
• Stencyl
Stencyl uses a Lego-like approach to coding, where developers arrange code "blocks" and
snap them into logic statements. This tool packaged together several sample games,
which developers can modify. Examples of games made in Stencyl are Handheld Video
Game and The Brim.
• GameMaker
GameMaker uses an approach which is similar to drag-and-drop interface. However, the
language used for the coding only works in GameMaker. Example of GameMaker games
is Spelunky.

Project Management Software

Project management software is used for project planning, scheduling, resource allocation
and change management. Many organizations use the software to manage their projects in
terms of project duration, cost, budget, resources and quality. Project management software
allows all stakeholders of a project to collaborate and communicate among themselves. The
main purpose is to enable the planning and tracking of project components, stakeholders and
resources.

One of the most commonly used project management software is Microsoft Project.
Other examples are Basecamp and Teamwork Projects. ProofHub is an online project
management app. Other examples of project management software are Bitrix24, Freedcamp,
Zoho Projects and Asana. Followings are some primary functions of project management
software:

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 • Project planning: A project manager can use the software to create a project schedule
whereby project tasks can be mapped and relationship between one task to another task
can be visually described.
• Task management: Project tasks, deadlines and status reports can be created.
• Document sharing and collaboration: Project stakeholders can access documents
from a centralized source, therefore productivity is increased.
• Calendar and contact sharing: Project managers and stakeholders can automatically
be updated with the project timelines. Their calendars will include scheduled meetings,
dates for every activity and contacts.
• Time tracking: Project managers are able to monitor the duration for all tasks and to
keep records for third-party consultants.

Shown below are the examples of application software for open source and commercial
software.

Figure 3- 27 Example of a Gantt chart created using project management

Table 3-7 Examples of Application Software for Open Source and Commercial software

Type of Program Open Source Software Commercial Software

LibreOffice Writer Microsoft Word
Word processor
AbiWord Apple Pages
LibreOffice Math MathType
Mathematical formulas
MathMagic
LibreOffice Calc Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet
Gnumeric Apple Numbers
LibreOffice Impress Microsoft PowerPoint
Presentations Impress.js Apple Keynote
Impressionist Corel Presentation

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 Type of Program Open Source Software Commercial Software
Sozi
LibreOffice Base
Microsoft Access
MySQL
Database
PostgreSQL
Oracle DB
Firebird
Evolution Microsoft Outlook
E-mail Zimbra Eudora
Roundcube Forté Agent
OpenLibreOffice.org Draw Microsoft Paintbrush
Graphics or Drawing Inkscape Adobe Photoshop
Blender Corel Painter
Mozilla Firefox ExpressVPN
Web browser Opera Microsoft Edge
Midori Apple Safari

Open source software is available to download from many free download

software websites as listed below (to name just a few):
• www.filehippo.com
• www.softpedia.com
• www.apphit.com
• download.cnet.com
• www.tucows.com/downloads

The following are some descriptions on the advantages and disadvantages of open source
software.

Table 3-8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Source Software

Criteria Advantages Disadvantages

Generally no fee or minimal No compensation or
Price
license fee. remuneration.
There will be issues related to
Source code is readily available;
Availability intellectual property for the
user has rights to modify it.
individual contributors.
Right to Users may distribute and modify
distribute or improvements to the source No maintenance and support.
modify code.

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 Criteria Advantages Disadvantages
The current code base can be
The existence of a new project or
Fees for used by anyone to create new
the current status of a project
modifications projects, and no modification fee
may be difficult to know.
is required.
Continuing improvement and
Continuing No warranty regarding media,
outstanding improvement are
improvement viruses, and performance.
possible.
More likely to be built to open
Interoperability standard, so interoperable with Users must be open source savvy.
other open standard systems.
The process of software
development may not be
No pressure from the market,
Development properly defined, certain steps
therefore there are fewer
Processes may not be emphasized such as
conflicting priorities.
lack of system testing and
documentation

Mobile Apps

Background and Definition

The word “app” is an abbreviated form of “application software”. It became the “Word of
the Year” in 2010, listed by the American Dialect Society. By definition, mobile app refers to
a computer program which is designed to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and
tablet computers.

Nowadays, mobile devices are becoming essential gadgets for many individuals. Mobile
users are increasingly depending on apps to do transactions like booking tickets, ordering
foods, shopping and banking, etc. Some of the most commonly used apps are social
networking, listening to music, viewing videos and scanning quick response or QR codes.

The following are some commonly used apps based on its usage.
• Social networking: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
• Messaging: Whatsapp, Telegram
• Shopping: Shopee, Zalora, Lazada, Mudah, Carousell
• Music: Pandora, Spotify, SoundCloud, GarageBand, YouTube Music
Figure 3- 28 QR
• Videos: YouTube, Netflix, iFlix

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 • QR codes: QR Reader, QR Droid

A QR code consists of black modules or square dots arranged in a

square grid on a white background, which can be scanned using the
QR reader app and the camera of a mobile device.

The websites to download mobile apps are known as app stores. It is a digital distribution
platform that allows users to download apps either for free or with some charges. Table 3-9
shows a list of websites that provides mobile apps based on operating system.

Table 3-9 App Stores

Website Apps store Operating System

www.appstore.com Apple App Store iOS
play.google.com Google Play Android
www.microsoft.com Microsoft Store Windows

Figure 3- 29 Google Play

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 Figure 3- 30 Microsoft Store

Free apps versus paid apps

• Paid apps: Usually 20-30% of the apps’ price goes to the distributor, and the
remainder goes to the apps developer.
• Free apps: Developers may sell advertising space within the apps, or provide in-app
purchases. The free apps are used for marketing purposes. The apps developer may
offer basic version of the app for free but will be upgraded to paid version later.

Based on statista.com, more than 178 billion apps were downloaded in 2017 and experts
predict almost 260 billion downloads in 2022. The two largest worlwide platforms for apps
distributions are Google Play for the Android users and Apple’s App Store for iOS users.
Android users are offered among 2.6 million apps and Apple’s App Store around 2.2 million
apps to choose from. The most popular apps downloaded are games (23%), followed by
business (10%) and education (9%). The rest go to lifestyles, entertainment, utilities, books,
music etc.

What are needed to download mobile apps?

• Mobile device
A smartphone, a tablet or a wearable device (Smart Glass, Google Glass,
smartwatches, Wear OS, Apple Watch, and Microsoft Band) is needed to download
the mobile apps. With the device, one is tied to use the operating system and apps
which are compatible with it.

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 • Internet access
Internet access can be obtained from either a data plan or a Wi-Fi hotspot. Users are
typically charged for the data plan with a monthly fee. Public Wi-Fi provided by hotels,
coffee shops or airports is usually free and offer fast connection within the range.
However, information sent by a public Wi-Fi is not encrypted. Another method is to
use home wireless network which is a more secure network.

Mobile apps creation

Users may create and manage a mobile site or application using one of the platforms listed in
Table 3-13 with a small investment.

Table 3-13 Platforms to manage mobile site or application

Name Description

Appery.io

Appery.io is a cloud-based mobile app builder that you can use to

create apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone, and includes
Apache Cordova (Phone Gap) with access to its built-in
components. Users do not need to install or download anything
because the builder runs in the cloud. Users can easily get started
quickly.

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 Mobile Roadie

Mobile Roadie is an app creator that allows anyone to create and

manage their own iOS or Android app.

TheAppBuilder

TheAppBuilder offers a suite of apps suitable for employees, clients,

events and brochures. There are two different approaches
provided to build the app. You can use the online toolkit, either the
training provided or TheAppBuilder itself will work with you to
define and build the structure of the app and populate it with initial
content.

Other platforms include Appy Pie, BuildFire, NativeScript and many more.

Concept Check

 What are the common mobile apps usages?

 Name examples of mobile apps.

 List the app stores and devices it is meant for.

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Software Suite

Software can be purchased either as individually or as software suite. Software suite is a

collection of individual software, grouped and sold together as a bundle. A software suite can
be a collection of several programs which are normally of the same category. Table 3-14
below shows several types of software suite.

Table 3-14 Types of Software Suite

Type of suite Description Example

Office or Contains general-purpose Microsoft Office, Apple iWork,
productivity application programs that are Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice,
typically used in business situation WPS Office
Cloud or Same as office suite but the Google Workspace, Microsoft Office
online programs are stored at a server on 365, Zoho Workplace, Adobe
the Internet and are available Creative Cloud
anywhere you can access the
Internet
Specialized Focuses on specific applications CorelDRAW® Graphic Suite, TOTAL
Planning Suite
Utility Includes a variety of programs Norton 360, AVG TuneUp,
designed to make computing Bitdefender
easier and safer

Figure 3- 31 Productivity suite Figure 3- 32 Specialized Suit

Concept Check

 List the types of software suites.

 Name examples of software suites.

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ISLAM AND IT
According to cyberlaw.com, generally, any software used beyond its intended purposes or is
pirated can be considered as illegal use of the software. As end-users, we must avoid
ourselves from using software illegally. Making copies of software onto a disk or computer
or downloading it from another source even if the copies are not intended to be sold for profit
and are only for personal use can still be considered illegal. Buying pirated software from
irresponsible parties is also an illegal act. Islam propagates good actions. Allah loves people
who show their very best behaviours in their actions. Using software illegally is not a good
practice. Therefore, we should avoid it.

However, nowadays, it is common for people to use pirated software. On 24th May, 2017,
the New Straits Times Online reported that The Johor Office of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives
and Consumerism Ministry has seized 76 copies of pirated software and six computers
estimated to worth RM741,300 from two business premises in UluTiram, Johor. The ministry
took a very serious view of companies using unlicensed or pirated software. This unethical
practice was a clear violation of the Copyright Act 1987, under which the management may
be liable to criminal prosecution. In Malaysia, any business remises, organisation or individual
found in possession and using pirated software shall be punishable under Section 41 (1) of
the Copyright Act 1987, namely a fine up to RM20,000 for each pirated software in addition
to five years jail or both f convicted.

According to the predominant opinion, it is impermissible to use pirated software. In its

fifth session in Kuwait, the Council of the Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), stated, "Copyrights
belong to their holders and have, in contemporary times, financial value that can be traded.
These rights are recognized by the sharee'ah, and it is impermissible to violate them." In
islamweb.net, it is stated that some Islamic scholars allow one to use pirated software for
personal use only, and not for commercial use. However, other scholars said using pirated
software is absolutely forbidden and one bears sin every time he uses the software. As a
Muslim, we are supposed to avoid things which are doubtful or if there is any element of
syubhah, as in the hadith below.

The Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam said,

"Give up what is doubtful for that which is not doubtful."

[An-Nasaa'i and At-Tirmithi narrated it on the authority of Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali, may be
pleased with him - At-Tirmithi graded it saheeh]

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SUMMARY
This chapter introduced you to software, one of the important elements in Information
Systems. You also learned about the software ownership which comprises of commercial
software, open-source software, freeware and shareware. There are two types of software:
System Software and Application Software

System software is a collection of programs that handle the computer hardware

operations. There are four types of system software which are Operating Systems, Utilities,
Device drivers and Language Translators. Explanations were focused on the basic functions
of the operating systems followed by the utilities and the types of utilities. Some examples
of utilities are Antivirus programs, System Maintenance programs and File Compression
programs.

Application software is categorized into three: general-purpose applications, specialized

applications and mobile applications. In each category of application software, the types,
functions and some software examples were discussed. Finally, this chapter mentioned about
software suite, the types of suites and the examples of software for each type of software
suite.

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GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
Animation – Features with visual and sound effects.

App store – A website that provides access to specific mobile apps that can be downloaded
for a fee or free of charge.

Application software or app – Software used by users to accomplish certain task.

Basic input/output system – A set of built-in software routines which controls many of the
most important functions of the computer

Bitmap or raster images – Graphic file of an image made up of dots or pixels.

Booting – Process of powering on the computer

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) – Used to define web pages styles, including the design, layout
and variations in display for different devices and screen sizes. It helps related web pages to
have a consistent look

Clip art – Any graphic illustration

Cold boot – to start up a computer that is turned off, performs a "power-on-self-test" (POST)

Command line interface – a means of interacting with a computer program where the user
types some coding as the command

Database management system or DBMS – A program to structure a database file

Database – A collection of related data

Desktop publishing – Graphic specialized software for mixing text and graphic for publications

Device drivers – Programs to allow the computer to communicate with the devices that are
connected to it.

Downloading – Requesting or copying a file from another computer through the Internet

Embedded Operating System – Specialized OS for use in a computer that is part of a different
kind of machine such as computers in cars, digital TV, digital cameras, ATMs, point-of-sale
terminals and GPS navigation systems

Formula – An instruction for calculation

Function – A pre-written formula

General-purpose applications or basic applications – The most widely used programs,

regardless of the field or job specialization that the user is in.

Graphical site map – Representing the overall design of a website

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Graphical user interface – A means of interacting with a computer program by using graphical
elements such as windows, icons, and buttons

HTML – HyperText Markup Language. A programming language used to create a web

document that can be displayed in a browser

Illustration or drawing program – Used to create and modify vector images or geometrical
shapes.

Image editor – Used to modify bitmap images.

Integrated software package – A single software with multiple basic applications

functionalities.

Language Translator – programs that translate the instructions written in a programming

language into machine language

Licensed software – Any software which is used by the user under a valid purchase in order
to get the license

Memory – Temporary storage area to hold data and instructions that will be needed by the
CPU to process

Mobile Operating System – An operating system for mobile devices like smartphones and
tablets to run the application programs

Multimedia – Integration of text, video, audio, graphic and animation as an interactive

element.

Multitasking – The handling of more than one task at the same time by a computer processor

Operating systems – Programs to coordinate all activities among the computer hardware
devices, provide the interface for the computer users, and run all application software.

Peripheral devices – Devices to connect to the computer system to add functionality like
mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer and scanner

Plug and Play – A combination of software and hardware support that enables the Windows
operating system to detect and configure hardware with little or no user involvement

Power-on self-test – Process performed by software routines immediately after a computer

is turned on

Presentation graphics – A program for creating a visually interesting presentation.

Quick response or QR code – Consists of black modules or square dots arranged in a square
grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera.

Software suite – A bundle of individual programs sold as a group.

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Source code - any collection of computer instructions, possibly with comments, written using
a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text.

Specialized applications – Programs which are more specific and focused on a particular job
area.

Spreadsheet – A program used to organize, analyze and graph numerical data.

Stock photographs – Photos ranging from people to landscape.

System software – A collection of programs that handle the operations of computer

hardware.

Utilities – programs to manage and maintain the computer’s general housekeeping tasks for
the computer. Eg. performing backup and recovering damaged files

Warm boot – Restarting a computer once it has been turned on.

Word processor – A program used to create text-based documents.

Word wrap – A feature in word processor that brings the cursor to a new line when the
current line is full.

Worksheet – A file created by using spreadsheet programs.

WYSIWYG – What you see is what you get. Creating a web page without direct interaction
with HTML code.

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PRACTICES
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Which of the following software licenses allow user to modify existing software?

A. Commercial C. Shareware

B. Freeware D. Open Source

2. The following are functions of operating system EXCEPT

A. provides user interface C. manages files and directories

B. identify non important files D. control computer systems

3. The category of operating system which is used by mobile devices is called __________.

A. embedded OS C. network OS

B. desktop OS D. mobile OS

4. When you buy a new device, you need to install __________ before you can use it with your
computer.

A. language translators C. optimize drives

B. device drivers D. Antivirus

5. Programs that you can use to create letters and reports.

A. Presentation graphics C. Word processor

B. DBMS D. Spreadsheet

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6. Graphic software used for creating a professional quality brochure.

A. Illustration program C. Image editor

B. Drawing program D. Desktop publisher

7. The MOST common mobile app used especially for listening to music.

A. Instagram C. Pandora

B. Telegram D. Spotify

8. Web authoring program used to create a website without knowing HTML.

A. CSS C. GUI

B. WYSIWYG D. Browser

9. Which of the following is the website that provides mobile apps for Android devices?

A. Google Play Store C. Windows Store

B. Apple App Store D. Microsoft Store

10. An example of an online suite.

A. Microsoft Office C. Libre Office

B. Apple iWork D. Zoho Office

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Short Answers

1. __________ is software that is distributed free on a trial basis.

2. In order to increase hard disk performance, you can use __________ tool to rearrange files and
remove fragments.

3. __________ allow user to mix text and graphics to create a professional quality textbooks.

4. The older version of operating system used _____________ where user must type commands in
order to give instructions to computers.

5. When your computer is off and you switch it on, this is called __________.

Discussions

1. You are working in an advertisement company. Your manager asks you to prepare a
marketing plan and budget information. Since the company you are working in is small,
your manager asks you to use free software. Use the web to research popular software
that you can use to accomplish the above tasks. List common features of each software.
Which software will you use and why?

2. You have used your computer for more than 1 year and realize that it is getting slower by
the day. Suggest ways to make your computer work efficiently.

3. Use the Internet to explore more on cloud/online applications such as Google Docs,
Google Sheets, Zoho Office and Microsoft Office 365. Compare the applications with
installed programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

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1.
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9.
THE INTERNET AND
THE WEB

10.
11.
12.
13.
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16.
17.
18.
19.
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4) LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Explain the Internet, the Web and its revolution.
• Explain the requirements of Internet access and web utilities.
• Describe search tools; search engine, online database search and content evaluation.
• Describe popular communication mediums; e-mails and social media.
• Identify electronic commerce, including B2C, C2C, B2B.
• Explain the advantages and disadvantages of electronic commerce.

OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB

What is the Internet? What is a Web? Is a Web the same as the Internet? Both terms, the
web and the Internet are distinctive but related. Somehow, people used the terms
interchangeably. The main difference is:
i. the Internet is a networking infrastructure, while
ii. the web provides means to access information on the Internet.

Internet infrastructure consists of the hardware, communication channel,

and software used to facilitates and to interconnect computers and users
on the Internet.

The Internet
The Internet is a connection between computers in a network. A computer with access to the
Internet enables users to send and obtain information such as e-mail, messages, audio, video,
graphics, computer applications and programs. The Internet can be defined as a global area
network that connects computers worldwide. Internet connections are supported by a
“backbone” that comprises numerous high-bandwidth data lines. The high-bandwidth data
lines are connected to major network hubs that play important roles to deliver or distribute
data from one source to a location, such as ISP and web servers.

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The Web
The web is an acronym for World Wide Web (WWW). Web is an information sharing
environment where documents, audio, video and other web resources can be accessed
through the Internet. The WWW is one of the primary tools for billions of individuals
worldwide to interact on the Internet. WWW is invented by an English scientist named Tim
Berners-Lee in 1989 at European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Switzerland.
Specifically, the Web documents are created and formatted using Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML), and these documents are referred to as websites. These sites may contain
images, video, audio, and software components.

The History of the Internet

The Internet started with a project known as Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
(ARPANET) in the late 1950s, which was meant for the US Department of Defence. ARPANET
began with a four-node network connecting the University College of Los Angeles (UCLA),
Stanford Research Institute, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University
of Utah in Salt Lake City. The ARPANET projects’ actual communication was in 1969 between
the computer at Stanford and the computer at UCLA. The communication was transmitting
the letter “login” between the two computers; unfortunately, the system crashed after the
third letter of “Login”. However, it was the beginning of a revolution. Many researchers
participated in creating the ARPANET, but the most known researchers are Vinton Cerf and
Robert Kahn, who were known as the “fathers” of the Internet. The term “Internet” was first
used in December 1974, and over time the Internet expanded to include other government
agencies, universities, research labs and businesses.

Internet in Malaysia
The commercial Internet story in Malaysia began in 1990 when the Malaysian Institute of
Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS, now MIMOS Berhad) launched Joint Advanced Integrated
Networking (JARING). JARING was the first Malaysian Internet Service Provider (ISP) in
Malaysia and since 2015, JARING is no longer in service.

Since the early nineties, the Malaysian government has been seriously taking action to
facilitate and promote Internet usage in Malaysia. The Malaysian government has been
introduced and employed a range of policies to encourage Malaysian businesses to explore
online commerce. To ensure Malaysia is not left behind, the government has invested for
Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). The MSC strategic location attracted more than 900 local
and international Information Technology (IT) and communication companies to venture into
online business.

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 The 98.7% of internet users use smartphne to access internet.
Text communication is the highest online activity on the internet at the
rate of 98.1%.
98.7% using WhatsApp

The History of the Web

The web or World Wide Web (WWW) was created in
1889 by a British scientist named Tim Berners-Lee.
Initially, the web was designed and developed to
facilitate automated information-sharing between
scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
The basic idea of information sharing has evolved, and
the web has become important tools to facilitate global
information systems. Tim Berners-Lee developed HTML, Figure 4-1 Tim Berbers-Lee, the
HTTP and the first web browser called WorldWideWeb Web inventor
for NeXT Computer. The WorldWideWeb then has been
renamed as Nexus to avoid confusion with the WWW.

The differences between the Internet and the web

The Internet is a network infrastructure that connects millions of computers all around the
globe. The connections allow each of the computers on the Internet to communicate, send,
and receive information. The information travels over the Internet via a protocol: a set of
rules or procedures for transmitting data between electronic devices, such as computers. The
web is a way to access information over the Internet. The web uses the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) used to deliver information on the World Wide Web.

Table 4-1 Definition of Internet and Web

Internet Web
network infrastructure connects and allows A layer on the Internet that uses different
communication between millions of protocol to facilitates information sharing
computers globally

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Web Utilities
Web utilities are known as utility programs that ease internet surfing activities and make them
safer. Examples of web utilities programs are plug-ins, filters and file transfer utilities.

Plug-ins
Plug-ins are programs that are automatically started and operated as part of a browser. It is
a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program. When a
program supports plug-ins, it enables customization. The common examples are the plug-ins
used in web browsers to add new features such as search-engines, virus scanners, or the
ability to use a new file type such as a new video format. Well-known browser plug-ins include
Adobe Flash Player, QuickTime Player, and Java plug-in, which can launch a user-activated
Java applet on a web page to execute a local Java virtual machine.

Figure 4-1 Examples of plug-ins

Web Filters
A Web filter is a computer program designed to screens Web pages to determine whether
they should be displayed or not to the user. The web filters examine the origin or content of
a Web page that a user is trying to access against a set of rules stated by the party who
installed the Web filter. A Web filter allows users to block pages of certain web pages content
according to their preferences, such as push advertising, obscene content, viruses or any
content that the users prefer not to see. Among the well-known web filter are Norton Family,
Net Nanny, SpyAgent and Qustodio.

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 Figure 4-2 Content-filter by Norton Family

Requirements of Internet Access

Each computer with Internet access can be categorized as part of a network, including
computers or nodes at home. For home users, connecting to the Internet is as simple as
connecting to an application by entering the correct identification (ID) and password. All
home internet access the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) subscribed by
the household. While at work, a user may be connected to the Internet through a Local Area
Network (LAN) of a company, and the company may provide internet access by subscribing
to an ISP. In general, when a user is connected to an ISP, the user becomes part of an ISP
network which enable the user to have Internet services. To access the Internet, each user
must subscribe to Internet Service Provider (ISP), and a Web browser.

Internet Service Provider

Internet Service Provider (ISP) refers to a company that provides Internet services for
personal and business use. TIME broadband, Celcom, Maxis and P1 are examples of ISP in
Malaysia. Not forgetting, TM, a Malaysian telecommunication company, is the only fixed-line
broadband service provider in Malaysia. TM through TM Net has been providing an internet
protocol television known as Unifi to Malaysia homes.

Browsers
Browsers are computer programs that allow users to access web resources. A browser
program needs to be installed into your computer systems. The browser is the application for

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the users to locate, retrieve and display content on the web. The two most popular browsers
are Chrome and Firefox. Other major browsers include Microsoft Edge, Safari and Opera.

Figure 4-3 Example of web browsers

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The location or address must be specified so the browsers can connect to the resources on
the web. These locations or addresses are called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). URL
consists of several parts:
i. the protocol,
ii. the domain name where the resource is located, and
iii. the top-level domain (TLD) name that identifies the type of organization.

Protocol Top level domain(TLD)

https://www.iium.edu.my

Domain name

Figure 4-4 URL parts

The domain names state the resource’s location while the top-level domain (TLD) name
identifies the type of organization. Examples of TLD are:

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 Table 4-2 Types of Domain

HTML is a programming language that is used to encode and display

documents and browsers is used to view the documents from remote
locations.

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HTML, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and JavaScript
Apart from the essential elements on a web page such as hypertext, links and images, a web
page may contain some other elements, including Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and JavaScript
to provide highly interactive and animated websites. The following figure summarizes the
elements of a web page.

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)

•is a standard markup language use to create web pages and to develop web
applications
•Provide the structure of a web design

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)

•describes the web page elements layout are to be displayed on computer
screen, hardcopy, or in other media.
•control the layout of multiple web pages all at once.
•handles look and feel of a website

JavaScript
•makes a web page more dynamic by allowing users to interact with other
web pages
•handles complex functions and features

Figure 4-5 Elements to provide highly interactive and animated websites

ONLINE SEARCH TOOLS

Internet search is the process of exploring the Internet for information using search engines
like Google, Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGo or other available search engines.

Figure 4-6 Example of browsers

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Search engine and web crawler
A search engine is specialized software that helps users to locate information on the WWW.
The search query enters by users will return a list of results known as Search Engine Results
Pages (SERPs). The information resulted is a combination of web pages, audio, videos, images,
and other types of files. Some search engines maintain their database, and some search
engine mine data in any online databases or open directories. Search engines continuously
update their database and ensure that their database contains real-time information by
continuously runs an algorithm on a web crawler.

How to access a search engine?

Users may access a search engine using a browser. Browser is a computer program that
connects users to remote computers and displays web documents online. The browser can
be accessed through a tablet, computer, smartphone, or any suitable devices.

How does a search engine work?

A search engine is comprised of a massive number of web pages. A search engine is initiated
when users enter keywords of information searching in the search bar. The search engine will
come out with a list of hits respective to the search string typed by the user also also display
the hits based on their importance. The hits from the search engines is commonly determined

Processed data
moved to other
computers

Figure 4-7 Spiders' activities

Web crawler will automatically visit, scan and grab the content of webpages. Web crawler
will process each web page’s data it visited and organize the data by indexing the web pages
for easier retrieval in its respective web server. The web pages indexing is similar to a book
indexing that lists all words used by an author of a book. The hits’ list will be retrieved from
the search engine web server index whenever a user requests an information search from a
search engine. The search engine’s will produced a list of hits using a primary method by
comparing the search string with the words stored in the web server index and the search
engine also decides the order of the hits that appears on the user search engine interface.

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Online database search
The online database is a database accessible by computers in a local network or computers
on the Internet. Online databases are hosted on websites, made available as software as a
service product that is reachable via a web browser. Example of the online database are listed
in Table 6-2:

Table 4-3 Example of online database categories

Example of
The use URL
categories
a public search engine and digital library of https://scholar.google.com/
academic and scientific papers. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/
Scholarly
that indexes the full text or metadata of Xplore/home.jsp
Literatures
scholarly literature across an array of https://www.scopus.com/so
publishing formats and disciplines urces.uri
a massive image database featuring
2,532,457 photos of all manner of aircraft,
Aircraft https://www.airliners.net/
from the smallest individual craft to hulking
great flying fortresses.
database search, locating databases from
around the world that match your search
To find and to
terms. Try it if you need some extra data in https://www.quandl.com/
use data
a hurry, or just like playing with large
datasets
a collaborative volunteer-run effort to
COVID
track the ongoing COVID 19 in the United https://covidtracking.com/
Tracking
States.

Boolean Search String

Boolean search string enables users to look for more specific results from an online database.
The boolean operators that are used to assist searching are AND, OR, and NOT. Quotation
mark “…..” and brackets (….) can also be used for searching.

Table 4-4 Search string operators

Operator Description Search String
To combine or exclude keywords in a
AND search, resulting in more focused and IIUM AND library
productive results.
To broadens a search.
Telling the database that any of the biometric OR IRIS OR thumbprint OR
OR
words it connects are acceptable. “voice recognition”.
Helpful searching for synonyms

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 To eliminate documents which “software engineering” NOT
NOT
contain the term after NOT development.
Quotation mark searching for a
“data science”
“……” specific word combination or an exact
“artificial intelligent”
phrase
Brackets are used to group terms (biometric OR IRIS OR thumbprint OR
together, so that operators like AND “voice recognition”) AND
(……..)
can be applied to all the terms in the (authentication OR verification OR
brackets validation)

Content Evaluation
A search engine is a tool for online information retrieval. However, users should be careful
with the information retrieved and wisely select reliable information. For reliable information,
Internet users should consider criteria on authority, accuracy, objectivity and currency. The
followings are the questions based on each criterion.

• Authority
i. Is the author identified or anonymous?
ii. Has the author included a bibliography?
iii. Can you find references about the author?
iv. Is the author qualified to write about the subject?
v. Do you recognize the author as an expert in his field?
vi. Is there enough information about the author’s credibility?
vii. Is the author affiliated to an academic institution or credible organization?

• Accuracy
i. Is the text free from spelling errors?
ii. Is the text well-written and grammatically correct?
iii. Are research methodologies adequately explained?
iv. Are the sources cited reliable and can they be verified elsewhere?
v. Has the content been through an editing process or been peer reviewed?

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• Objectivity
i. Does the author present objective arguments or make it clear when he is expressing
biased opinions?
ii. Are other points of view explored?
iii. Is it a personal website? Does it express personal opinions?
iv. Is the website a part of a commercial organization, a political party or an organization
with a specific agenda? If yes, question the motives for publishing the information.
v. Does the website promote a biased viewpoint?

• Currency
i. Can you tell when the information was published?
ii. Is the information up to date?
iii. How frequently is the website updated?
iv. Are the links up to date and working?

Four Tips to Help Make the Most of a Search

1. Make your keywords as precise as possible.

2. Use two or more keywords in your search.
3. Make sure you spell the keywords correctly.
4. Always try more than one search engine.

COMMUNICATIONS
How users communicate with each other? How users share information? How users send
messages? All these activities need a communication establishment between users and
facilitated by the Internet. In general, communication involved the exchange of information
via verbal, non-verbal communication or written communication. Focusing on Internet-based
communication, methods such as electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging, Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video conferencing are among preferable by users.

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Electronic mail
Since around 1993, electronic mail, most commonly called e-mail or e-mail is one of the
important means of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients.
E-mails operate across computer networks and the Internet. Each e-mail is having the same
components such as addresses, subject and attachment.

Address of recipient(s)
Topic of the email explaining the main ideas of the email contents

Space for the body of messages

Plug-ins

Email contents formatting

Shortcut for attachment, hyperlinks, insert images etc

Figure 4-8 E-mail components

Following are the details for e-mail components:

1) Address: It is a unique identifier for an e-mail account. An e-mail address has two
basic parts. The first part is the user’s name and the second part is the domain
name, which includes the top-level domain. The e-mail address components are
shown in the following description.

username Top level domain

[email protected]

domain name

2) Subject: A One-line description that represents the topic of the message. It

indicates the contents of the e-mail and its urgency. Subject lines typically are
displayed when a person checks his or her mailbox.

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 3) Attachments: Most of the e-mail programs allow you to attach files such as
documents and images. If a message has an attachment, the file name typically
appears on the attachment line. The letter or message comes next

E-mail spam is also known as a junk e-mail. It is a type of electronic spam where
unsolicited messages are sent by e-mail. E-mail spams are used by an organization or a
company to promote their applications, products or services commercially. However, e-mail
spams could harm the e-mail account owners by carrying disguised messages containing
viruses, “phishing” link and trojan horses.

Figure 4-9 E-mail contents

Types of e-mail systems

There are two basic types of e-mail systems:
1) E-mail clients: An e-mail client is an application that runs on a personal computer, and
it uses a client-server architecture. E-mail clients are sent from many clients to a
central server, which then sends the message to the right e-mail addresses. If users
use Outlook (part of the Microsoft Office package) or Thunderbird (comes with the
Firefox browser), they are using e-mail clients. The advantages of e-mail clients are:
a. the e-mails are stored on the computer and users can access them much faster
than when using webmail,
b. users do not need to have an Internet connection if they want to read e-mails
that they received.

2) Webmail: Webmail is a web-based e-mail account. It is an e-mail that are operated

from a website, and webmail allows users to access their e-mail accounts as long as

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they have an Internet connection. The most popular webmail services are Gmail,
Hotmail and Yahoo mail.

Figure 4-10 E-mail types

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Social media
Social media is an electronic communication that facilitates online communities to share
information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Social media allows real-time
communication among users.

Figure 4-11 Example of Social Media

Table 4-5 Media Sharing Types

Social Media type Description Example
Facebook. Twitter,
Social networks Connect with people
LinkedIn
Discover, share and save new trending
Bookmarking sites Pinterest, Flipboard
content and media.
User-posted stories, pictures, video and
Social News reddit, Digg
articles with other users.
Creating and posting short updates with Twitter, Tumblr and
Microblogging
audiences. FriendFeed
Upload and share various media such as Youtube, Vimeo,
Media Sharing
pictures and video to a website Instagram

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 To find, review, share and discuss
Traveloka, TripAdvisor,
Online reviews information such as hotel rooms,
Zomato
restaurant, visited places and more.
Share news, ideas, find and discuss
Discussion forums reddit, Quora, Digg
information and opinion.

The term used in Social Media has a thin line in differentiating the
function of each type, such as media sharing and social network.
Social network allows users to add live videos and pictures, while
media sharing also allows the similar sharing file format on its social
media wall. However, media sharing is created purposely to share
the multimedia content while social network is focusing on the
relationship between text including updates, comments with photos
and videos.

Social media common features

Following are the common features of social media:
i. allows you to connect with other people of similar interests and background.
ii. allows you to upload and share various media such as pictures and video. Most
services have additional social features such as profiles, commenting, etc.
iii. allows you to save, organize and manage links to various websites and resources
around the Internet.
iv. allows users to communicate through online chat.
v. involves buying and selling activities by utilizing the use of social media.
vi. the applications are interactive.
vii. the most valuable content is generated by amateurs rather than by professionals.
viii. the emphasis is placed on contact and community elements rather than on
information.

Artificial Intelligence-powered social media

Artificial intelligence mimics human ability to think, decide, and react in a programmed
machine. Artificial intelligence (AI) utilized machine learning to make predictions on an event
based on a large dataset, and one example of AI usage is to identify rotten fruits based on the
images captured by a phone camera. In terms of AI in social media, AI facilitates sharing

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information, thoughts, and ideas and gives users quick access to social media content.
Facebook, for example, uses a tool called Deeptext to interpret respective users posted
content and find its meaning. AI will then use machine learning to learn the users’ social media
preferences, interest, taste, search trends, and pattern. It will then provide relevant ads to
users based on learnt machine learning algorithms and datasets. Example of AI in social media
are:
i. machine learning to recognize your face in photos on Facebook and Instagram
ii. LinkedIn uses AI to offer job recommendations,
iii. Snapchat takes advantage of the computer vision to track users features.

Figure 4-12 Artificial Intelligence-powered social media

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Electronic commerce or e-commerce is a term used for business transactions across the
Internet. It involves buying and selling goods and services or transmitting funds or data over
an electronic network, primarily the Internet. E-commerce consists of different types of
businesses such as consumer-based online retailers, auction sites, drop shipping, and services
between organizations. E-commerce is also known as e-business or e-tail (retail conducted
over the Internet).

E-commerce allows buyers and sellers to electronically exchange products and services at
any time with no barriers of distance. Today, there will be no boundaries between
“conventional” and “electronic” commerce as more and more companies move their

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operations onto the Internet. E-commerce business models are generally categorized as
follows:
i. Business - to - Business (B2B)
ii. Business - to - Consumer (B2C)
iii. Consumer - to - Consumer (C2C)
iv. Consumer - to - Business (C2B)
v. Business - to - Government (B2G)
vi. Government - to - Business (G2B)
vii. Government - to - Citizen (G2C)

However, this chapter will only look into the first three types of e-commerce; B2B, B2C and
C2C.

Business-to-Business (B2B)
In the business-to-Business (B2B) business model, companies sell their products to an
intermediate buyer who sells the products to the consumer. B2B transactions tend to happen
in the supply chain, where one company will purchase raw materials from another to be used
in the manufacturing process. The e-commerce transaction is initiated when a wholesaler
places an order from a company’s website from a factory. After receiving the consignment,
the wholesaler sells the end product to the final consumer who comes to buy the product at
wholesaler’s retail outlet. Example of a B2B is sourcing materials for a production process,
such as a fabrics manufacturer supplies fabrics to a textiles house.

Figure 4-13 B2B Examples

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Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Business-to-consumer (B2C) business model involves electronic business relationships
between businesses and consumers with no middle-man. B2C is one of the fastest-growing
e-commerce as it eliminates the need for physical stores for any retail company. The B2C
transactions start when consumers go to virtual stores and malls on the Internet to purchase
available items that they need. Examples of the B2C are:
i. online banking such as BankIslam.biz or Maybank2u,
ii. financial trading like stock exchange, and
iii. shopping at lazada.com or amazon.com

Figure 4-14 B2C Examples

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
C2C business model involves electronic transactions of goods or services conducted between
consumers. It is a platform for one consumer to sell to other consumers. Some examples of
C2C include eBay, an online auction site, Amazon, which acts as both a B2C and a C2C
marketplace, and online classified advertising sites, such as Craigslist and Gumtree.

Figure 4-15 C2C Examples

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The importance of e-commerce
E-commerce with the optimized and well-developed website offers a whole range of
opportunities listed for businesses to:
i. widen market opportunities,
ii. increase products ranges,
iii. generate more sales,
iv. offer customers opportunities to shop around the clock,
v. provide convenient service,
vi. boost the business.

Advantages of e-commerce
E-commerce is often faster, cheaper and more convenient than the traditional methods of
bartering goods and services. The followings are the advantages of e-commerce:
i. e-commerce facilitates the round-the-clock availability of buying and selling
processes.
ii. The speed of access to an e-commerce transaction.
iii. Customer and buyer have a wider selection of goods and services.
iv. The e-commerce website is accessible all the time.
v. International reach - without necessarily implying a large financial investment.
vi. It shortens the product distribution chain, sometimes eliminating it - enabling
suppliers to offer products and services that suit the target market’s individual
preferences.

Disadvantages of e-commerce
Despite the advantages, e-commerce also has some drawbacks to the seller or buyer. The
disadvantages of e-commerce are:
i. Strong dependence on internet connection.
ii. Limited customer service at some area due to limited resources, high delivery cost or
geographical restraints.
iii. Not being able to see or touch a product before purchase is made.
iv. The necessitated wait time for product shipping
v. Lack of legislation that adequately regulates the new e-commerce activities, both
nationally and internationally

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 vi. The users’ loss of privacy, the loss of regions’ and countries’ cultural and economic
identity.
vii. Insecurity in the conduct of online business transactions.

Payment Security Issue – Web Fraud Detection

When dealing with e-commerce, users have to keep in mind that this industry is vulnerable
to cybercriminals. According to Tittel (2015), any organization that accepts payment cards
over the web will deploy Web fraud detection system or services to detect and help prevent
fraud. Web fraud detection systems typically focus on new account origination, account
takeover and payment fraud. With account takeover and new account origination fraud
detection, organizations attempt to root out unauthorized users posing as legitimate users.
Payment fraud detection involves determining whether purchases are being or have been
made with stolen payment cards.

Interestingly, web fraud detection system is also used by government agencies to

administering student loans and mortgages, issuing social security cards, accepting tax
payments and administering payroll direct deposit.

How do Web fraud detection systems work?

1. The web fraud detection software runs a background process which scans online
transactions and gives a score based on an algorithm for the possibility of fraud to
happen.
2. The score is given based on users’ behaviour, device ID, location and any transaction
anomalies.
3. The score is compared against normal attributes set by the software.
4. If a transaction is determined within the range of normal score, then, the transaction
will be committed, or else the transaction will automatically end.

How is Web fraud detection systems sold?

In general, users have to register and sign-in before they may use web fraud detection
systems. The web fraud detection system service providers will deliver the services as a cloud-
based software as a service (SaaS) or on-site software products or platforms that will scan
financial transactions via the web or by using mobile devices.

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 The most common type of fraud in e-commerce is using stolen card details.
Criminals can get the card details through ATMs or at a service provider’s
payment terminal (examples: restaurants and hotels).

Payment Options
E-commerce facilitates online payment for its online transaction. An online payment method
is presented at the checkout page of the buying and selling transactions. It normally has
recognized logos such as Master Card, PayPal or common all-purpose terms like “credit
cards”, “bank transfer” or “payment-on-delivery”. The commonly used online payment
methods are:

1. Digital cash
Digital cash is an electronic version of notes and coins that aims to mimic actual cash
function. The consumer has to purchase the cash credit, which then is used to make
online purchases. Using digital cash, an online payment does not directly involved
banks. Example of digital cash is e-wallet, e-money, Flazz and T-Cash.
• e-wallet
Electronic Wallet (e-wallet) refers to an online account required to be deposited
with some amount of money. E-wallet requires a consumer to register to an e-
wallet provider. The e-wallet will allow the consumer to store multiple credit cards
and bank account numbers in a secure environment with the registration. E-
wallet users can make payments faster and with less typing. E-wallet needs digital
Wallet as the electronic devices to support its services. Digital Wallet refers to an
electronic device that allows an individual to purchase items online with a
computer or smartphone. Examples of e-wallet in Malaysia is are Grab Pay,
Touch’ n Go, Boost and Vcash.

Figure 4-16 e-wallet Example

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2. Credit card
A credit card is a payment card that requires the credit card holder’s commitment to
pay for the amount of merchandise or service charged to his card with other agreed
charges to the card issuer. Credit card is one of the banks’ facilities to their customers,
in credit or debt, to ease payment.

3. Direct debit card

Direct debit card is also known as debit card. A direct debit card is a payment card that
needs the cardholder to sign up for the debit card services, and the cardholder needs
to have a certain amount of money in their account to commit with a payment. The
money will be taken from the user’s bank account when performing any buying and
selling transaction.

4. Bank transfer
Bank transfer is a method of electronic funds sends from one account to another
account. Bank transfer can be done by visiting the bank, internet banking or using
ATMs.

Credit Card vs Debit Card.

When you use a debit card, the money is deducted from your account. With a
credit card, you are borrowing money and the money needs to be repaid later.

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GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
ARPANET – Advanced Research Projects Agency Network

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) - control the layout of multiple web pages all at once

Content filter - a useful program to allow or block access to web pages or e-mail.

Crawler/spider – computer algorithm that collects the relevant content for search engine.

Electronic commerce – Any type of business transaction that involves the transfer of
information across the Internet.

Electronic mail – A method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more
recipients that operate across the Internet or other computer networks.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – A standard Internet protocol for transmitting files between
computers on the Internet over TCP/IP connections.

HTML – Hypertext Markup Language is a language to create a website.

Internet – Network of networks that consists of millions of computers.

Internet Service Provider – A company that provides Internet services, including personal and
business free or for a fee.

Local Area Network - s a group of computers and peripheral devices that share a common
communications line or wireless link to a server within a distinct geographic area.

Messaging – The creation, storage, exchange, and management of text, images, voice, telex,
fax, e-mail, paging, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) over a communications network

Plug-ins – A software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program

URL – The location or address of the resources on the web.

Search engine – Software system that is designed to search for information on the World
Wide Web

Web – An information space where documents and other web resources can be accessed via
the Internet.

Web browser – The application for the users to locate, retrieve and display content on the
web

Web pages – Text documents formatted and annotated with Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML)

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Islam and IT

Research by Zulkurnaini and Murat investigates and compares the effects of

listening to Al-Quran and classical music on human brain wave using
electroencephalography (EEG). The EEG signal was recorded for three states,
which are before, during and after listening to Al-Quran and classical music.
Consequently, listening to Al-Quran in particular can result in a more relaxing and
alert condition compared to classical music. This seems to agree with finding that
the recitation of Al-Quran gives mental and spiritual relaxation. Thus, listening to
Al-Quran recitation can be considered as a method to gain relaxation, release
tension, relives boringness and release stress.

Therefore, while we are on-line why don’t we listen the Al-Quran citation?

SUMMARY
The Internet started during World War II to rely messages for armies. Nowadays, it becomes
one of the important elements of everyone’s life. Everyone seems cannot bare living without
it. Now it reaches billions of computer users worldwide. People use the Internet to
communicate and all other activities such as searching, shopping (e-commerce), e-learning
and entertaining. The world becomes borderless with the Internet. Communications become
easier and faster-using applications on the Internet such as e-mail, messaging, social media,
cloud computing and the latest technology, the Internet of Things (IoT). However, as Muslim
user, we should be able to use the Internet as a medium to promote Islamic practice to the
world and avoid abusing it.

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PRACTICES
Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is NOT a web browser?

A. Safari
B. Opera
C. Google+
D. Microsoft Edge

2. JavaScript is _________________________.
A. used to create interactive websites that respond quickly.
B. a small program that can be sent along with a Web page to a user.
C. a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in
a markup language .
D. a programming language often used within HTML documents that makes the web
page more dynamic.

3. Which of the following identifies the type of organization in URL?

A. Protocol
B. Identifier
C. Domain name
D. Top-level domain

4. Which of the following is one of file transfer utilities?

A. E-mail
B. Plug-ins
C. Bittorrent
D. Web Filters

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5. Below are the advantages of e-commerce EXCEPT
A. The speed of access services.
B. Its around-the-clock availability.
C. A wider selection of goods and services.
D. The time to receive the purchased product can be longer for overseas transaction.

6. All the followings are boolean operators that have been used with a search string. Which
of the Boolean will narrow a search?
A. OR
B. AND
C. (…..)
D. All the above

7. 𝑋𝑋 is a set of markup symbols or codes inserted into a file intended for display on the
Internet and tells web browsers how to display a web page’s words and images. Which of
the following best to represent 𝑋𝑋?
A. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
B. Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
C. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
D. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

8. To join the internet, the computer has to be connected to a/an _________

A. internet society
B. different computer
C. internet service provider
D. internet architecture board

10. Which of the following is the correct e-mail address?

A. @hassanah.shuhaimi
B. www.hassanahshuhaimi.com
C. [email protected]

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 D. [email protected]

Short Answers
1. ____________________________________ refers to a company that provides Internet
services, including for personal and business.

2. The _____________________ is a networking infrastructure, and the ____________ is a way

of accessing information over the Internet.

3. Online banking, financial trading and shopping are the three examples of
____________________________ e-commerce.

4. A _____________________________________ focuses on searching for web contents

specifically to narrow or broaden search results.

5. Payment fraud detection is being used to identify whether purchases are made using
______________ payment cards.

Discussions
1. If you have to access the web, it is possible to do so without a dedicated browser?

2. Digital cash has been widely used to replace money in daily buying, selling and payments.
Discuss, what are the traits that persuade users to use digital cash in their daily
transaction activities.

3. Based on your experience and the knowledge that you learn from this chapter, discuss
the steps taken to evaluate a website’s content.

4. Find information from the Internet on how E-commerce is practised in Malaysia. Give
some examples of B2B, C2C and B2C E-commerce in Malaysia. Discuss the most popular
type of E-commerce.

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29.
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35.
36.
37.
COMMUNICATIONS AND
NETWORKS

38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
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45.
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7. LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define communications systems and devices required
• Identify communications channels and communications devices
• Explain communications services
• Explain the concept of data transmission specifications
• Describe the concept of network and network terminology
• Explain the advantages of a network
• Describe the types of network
• Explain network architecture including network topologies and strategies.
• Identify the organizational networks including Internet technologies and network
security.

INTRODUCTION
Today, we receive information at our fingertips due to computer communications availability.
We have learned in Chapter 1, a computer is an electronic device or hardware that holds
digital data and information. Simply, computer communications mean the process of sharing
and transferring data and information between two computers or more. For example, a small
device like a smartphone can communicate with another smartphone or other device
whether they are near to each other or far away. All these are possible because of a network.
For us to connect to other devices globally, we need the Internet, which is the massive
network of networks.

Communications systems are electronic systems that exchange data from one location to
another location. These communications may involve transferring data via cables or wires, or
not involve cables at all. When cables are not involved, data are transferred through the air
and we call this wireless communication.

Computer Communications
Computer communications are everywhere because of the existence of the Internet.
Companies or universities provide Internet connections to their employees or students
respectively. Many home users especially in cities get connections by subscribing to the
Internet from their service providers. Others may register for mobile data on their tablets or
smartphones. Computer communications are essential nowadays due to numerous

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applications such as e-mails, multiplatform messaging app like WhatsApp, social media
networking and electronic commerce or e-commerce. This shows that the Internet plays an
important role in our daily life.

In order to make a communications system successful, you need the following four basic
elements (See Figure 5-1).

A sending device, which initiates an instruction to transmit data or information. A

receiving device, which accepts the transmission of data or information.
• A communications channel is the medium for the data or information to pass through.
This medium can be wired or a wireless connection.
• A communications device that links between the sending device and a communications
channel. It also links between the communications channel and a receiving device.
• Data transmission specifications specify how data are being transferred over the
networks based on predetermined rules.

Figure 5-1 Basic elements of communications system

Figure 5-2 Examples of sending and receiving devices

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 Examples of sending and receiving devices are depicted in Figure 5-2. These devices
include all types of computers and portable devices including desktops, servers, mainframe
computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming devices and car entertainment devices.

Next, this chapter explains several types of communications channels and

communications devices, the concept of data transmission specifications, as well as topic on
networks.

Concept Check
 Describe the four basic elements required in communications system.
 Name some examples of sending and receiving devices that exist in your
surroundings.

Communications Channel
Communications channels refer to the medium in where data or information is transmitted.
These channels are divided into two types which are, physical connection and wireless
connection or wireless technology.

Physical Connection

Physical connection uses solid cables to transfer data from a sending device to a receiving
device. There are three major types of physical cables used in communications system and
networks, which are twisted-pair, coaxial and fibre optic cables.

In a twisted-pair cable, each two insulated

wires are paired and twisted together.
Typically, this type of cable consists of more
than a pair of cables. These cables have been
used for telephone lines for a long time. The
reason the cables are twisted to reduce
electrical interference and crosstalk that can
degrade the quality of communications.
Figure 5-3 Twisted-pair cable

There are several categories of twisted-pair cables and their speed varies from 1Mbps up
to 10 Gbps. The maximum cable length is 100m.

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 A coaxial cable consists of a single solid copper wire or
inner conductor covered with multiple layers of shields.
This type of cable is widely used for community antenna
television and cable television network to deliver television
and music programs.
Figure 5-4 Coaxial cable
The transmission capability of a coaxial cable is 80 times higher than the twisted-pair cable
and generally more expensive than the latter. Furthermore, coaxial cable is proved to be cost
efficient for short links within 10m and residential networks.

It has a data rate of 10 Mbps which can be increased with the increase in diameter of the
solid copper wire.

A fibre optic cable is made up of bundle of glass

threads that use light to transmit data.
Transmission of data using fibre optic cables is
incredibly fast compared to twisted-pair and coaxial
cables. In addition, a fibre optic cable is also lighter
and less prone to electrical interference. Of course,
the price of fibre optic cables is the most expensive
among the three cables. Figure 5-5 Fibre optic cable

Nevertheless, nowadays, most Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Malaysia use fibre optic
instead of twisted-pair and coaxial cables to deliver their network service to customers. For
example, Telekom Malaysia using fibre optic in their product named Unifi, to all customers.

The transmission capability of a fibre optic cable is 26000 times higher than the twisted-
pair cable. The maximum connection distance for fibre optic cable can go up to 2 km.

Wireless Technology
Unlike physical connection, wireless technology is a transmission medium that does not use
cables. Data are transmitted through the air. Wireless technology makes communications
more convenient and can take place at many locations especially in the area where installing
cables are impossible.
The primary technologies used in wireless transmission medium for communications
include infrared, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE, cellular radio, microwaves and satellite.
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 Infrared is a wireless technology that uses infrared
light waves. The light waves can only travel over short
distances within the range of 10 feet and in a straight
line. Hence, there should not be any obstacles
between the sending and receiving devices. Examples
of devices that may use infrared technology are
mobile phones, wireless mouse, and TV remote
controls. Figure 5-6 Infrared technology

Bluetooth is a short-range radio technology standard that sends data over short distances.
Bluetooth is widely used for communication between smartphones, a headset with a laptop,
and a smart phone with a car entertainment device. The coverage area for Bluetooth
connection can be up to 10 meters or 33 feet.

Wi-Fi allows a device to communicate wirelessly over a network. It was created based on
IEEE 802.11x standard (See Table 5-1). Wi-Fi is the most popular wireless networking
technology today and is widely used in homes, schools, universities and companies.

Table 5-1 Wi-Fi Standard

Standard Frequency Maximum Speed
802.11b 2.4 GHz 11 Mbps
802.11g 2.4 GHz 54 Mbps
802.11n 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz 300 Mbps – 450 Mbps
802.11ac 5 GHz 1300 Mbps

IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional
association consists of engineers, scientists and students all over the world. IEEE was created
on 1 January 1963 in New York, USA. IEEE is responsible for the improvement of Wi-Fi, and,
therefore, the letter b, g and so forth as shown in Table 5-1, represent the amendment to the
standard. The other characteristic of Wi-Fi is the frequency either within the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz
band. The 5 GHz band is able to transmit more data compared to 2.4 GHz. The 2.4 GHz band,
not only has a lower capacity in transmitting data, but easily gets interference from things like
cordless phones and microwaves.

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 When this chapter was written in February 2021, Centre for
Foundation Studies (CFS) of International Islamic University
Malaysia (IIUM) campus based at Gambang, Pahang uses 802.11n
standards for its Wi-Fi.
~ the source from ITD, CFS.

WiMAX stand for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMAX was created
based on IEEE 802.16 standard. It was designed for long-range wireless networking spanning
distances miles or kilometres away.

A WiMAX tower station using high-bandwidth and wired connection can connect directly
to the Internet. Furthermore, the tower can also connect to another WiMAX tower using a
line-of-sight microwave link. The connection to the second tower is called a backhaul (see
Figure 5-7). A single WiMAX tower can transmit data to WiMAX-enabled computers or
routers up to a distance of 50 km radius. Therefore, WiMAX could provide Internet
broadband access to rural and remote areas that are not covered by cable companies.

There are two types of WiMAX specifications which are fixed wireless and mobile wireless.
With fixed wireless, a customer can access the Internet from a computer from a permanent
location. Whereas, with mobile wireless, a customer can access the WiMAX through mobile
devices such as smartphones.

Figure 5-8 How WiMAX works

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 LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and synonym to 4G for marketing purposes. LTE is
theoretically to support data downloads at 300Mbps or more based on experimental trials.
However, the actual network bandwidth available to an individual LTE customer sharing the
service provider's network with other customers is significantly less. Nonetheless, LTE is still
the leading-edge to tremendously increase the capacity and speed of cellular wireless
network.

Cellular radio is a type of wireless transmission media that is used for mobile devices and
mobile phones to transfer voice and data. Cellular radio uses high-frequency radio waves to
transmit signals through cells in which each cell is controlled by a Base Transceiver Station
(BTS). A cell is a geographic network area, whereas, a BTS facilitates between users’
equipment such as a mobile phone with the network. As long as any mobile phone is in any
cell, which means in the network coverage, the mobile phone can receive and make calls. As
the mobile phone is moving to another location, the BTS will pass the signals to another cell.
Taking over signals from one cell to another is called a handshake. If there is no handshake,
a drop call will occur (See Figure 5-8).

Simple call
If a phone in cell A calls a phone in cell B,
the call does not pass directly between the
two phones. Rather, the call or signal from
phone in cell A goes to BTS A. Then the
signal from BTS A goes to BTS B. Then only
the signal from BTS B goes to the phone in
cell B.
Roaming call
A scenario when cell phones are moving
between cells (when people are walking
along or driving). If a car passenger is
making a call and the car moves between
cells E, D and C, the phone call is
automatically “handshake” (passed from
cell to cell) so the call is not cut off (drop
call).

Figure 5-9 How mobile phone handles calls

Satellites are specialized wireless receiving transmitters. Satellites are sent to space by
rockets and stationed in orbit around the earth. These satellites receive signals from earth
stations and then relay and amplify the signals to other earth stations. The purpose of

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stationing a satellite in space is for providing telecommunications. Communications satellites
are commonly used for weather tracking, global positioning system (GPS), mobile phone
signalling, broadcasting television programs or military applications. There are more than
3000 satellites in orbit that are used by both governments and private organizations.

Microwaves are type of wireless

transmission media that use radio waves.
Microwave signal travels through a straight line
(line-of-sight). In order to allow transmission, a
microwave station will be installed on top of a
building, towers or hills to avoid any
obstruction. In short distances, signals are
transmitted directly between microwave
stations. However, for long distances,
microwave stations must include dishes or
antennas to relay the signals.
Figure 5-9 Microwave link

Advantages and disadvantages of Wireless Communications

The following are advantages of having wireless communications:

• Wires independency - No bunch of wires placing everywhere.
• Easy to configure - Wireless network is easy to expand and configure.
• Better or global coverage - Can reach rural areas or places where cabling is not feasible
to install.
• Flexibility - Wireless network is flexible to connect to multiple devices.
• Cost effectiveness - Since it is easy to setup and doesn’t require cables, wireless
network is comparatively cheaper.
• Mobile and portable - Anyone can access to the Internet anywhere and anytime
without carrying cables wherever they go.

The following are disadvantages of having wireless communications:

• Security vulnerabilities - Because communications done in open space, easy to
tamper by hacker. Even neighbours can see our Wi-Fi’s name.
• Interference - Interference from other wireless devices or weather condition.
• Transmission speed - is relatively less compared to wired network.

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 • High cost to setting the infrastructure - especially for networks that require fibre
optics. Therefore, ISP only prefer to set-up wireless networks or home fibre network
in a big city where there are many demands from customers.

Concept Check
 Define communications channels.
 List and describe the three physical connections.
 Describe all primary technologies used for wireless connections (technologies).

Communications Devices
A communications device is any hardware that is capable of transferring data or information
between a sending device and a receiving device. At the sending point, a communications
device will relay the signal from the sending device to a communications channel. At the
receiving point, a communications device will accept the signal. The signal received can be a
digital signal or an analog signal based on the communications channel used. Telephone lines
accept analog signals. Computers can only relay and accept digital signals. For a
communication to happen, data must be converted. Therefore, a device known as modem is
used. Modem converts digital signals to analog signals and vice versa.

Modems
A modem is usually used to transfer digital data over a phone line. The word modem is an
abbreviation of modulator-demodulator. A modulator is a device that converts digital signals
to analog signals. Whereas, a demodulator is a device that converts analog signals to digital
signals. See Figure 5-11 for the two signals. Typically, a modem is provided by an Internet
Service Provider (ISP). Figure 5-12 explains how a modem works. Thus, the sending modem
converts the data received from the terminal into an analog signal which is compatible with
the phone line, and the receiving modem converts the signal back into digital data before the
data are received by the computer.

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 Figure 5-10 Modem
Figure 5-11 Analog and Digital Signals

Figure 5-12 How a modem works

The speed of a modem is called data transfer rate. The common measurement of a
modem’s transfer rate is depicted in Table 5-2. The higher the transfer rate, the faster the
modem is, as depicted in Table 5-3. Moreover, the price of the modem will be higher
compared to a lower transfer rate modem.

Table 5-2 Modem transfer rate

Unit Speed
KBps Thousand bytes per second
Mbps Million bits per second
MBps Million bytes per second
Gbps Billion bits per second

Table 5-3 shows the time taken by two types of modem to transfer an MP4 video of size
800 MB at different transfer rate. Modem B, which has a higher transfer rate than modem
A, completes the download in a much shorter time.

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 Table 5-3 Modem transfer rate and time taken to download
Modem Name Transfer Rate Time taken
Modem A 3.5 Mbps About 30 mins
Modem B 21 Mbps About 5 mins

Types of modem
A dial-up modem is connected to a telephone line at one end, and the other end is connected
to a computer. In order to access the Internet, the telephone line is connected to the Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). A user needs to dial-up a number in order to connect
to the Internet (See Figure 5-13). Typically, this type of modem has a transfer rate of 56 Kbps,
which is the slowest transmission speed among other types of modem.

Figure 5-13 Dial-up modem connection

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a landline telephone

system which operated by circuit switching centre. The analog voice
data from one telephone line travel via these switches before reaching
the other connected telephone line.

The function of a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem is to transfer digital signal over standard
telephone lines. This kind of modem is normally provided by the Internet service provider
(ISP) in order to establish Internet access. This modem will connect either to a router or a
computer. Currently, some DSL modems have built-in wireless routers, which allow you to
connect to your DSL modem via Wi-Fi. A DSL kit typically includes a splitter that allows you
to connect to landline phones. This scenario works exactly like when you subscribe Streamyx
from Telekom Malaysia whereby you are given a kit consists of a DSL modem, a landline phone

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and the connection to the Internet. The speed of the DSL modem in this case is really
depending on the package that you choose for your Streamyx.

A cable modem allows connection between a computer and a cable television service line.
The transfer rate is about 1.5 Mbps, which is a faster transmission speed than a dial-up
modem. In most cases, cable modems are provided and installed by cable service providers.

A wireless modem is a device that allows a user to have an Internet connection

established by an ISP without connecting to any physical wire. For example, in Malaysia, users
can register with Maxis under Maxis broadband package in order to get connected to the
Internet wherever the connection is available. In this example, Maxis users can get connected
as long as there are wireless modem and network coverage in the particular area.

The current trend in communication is most devices are connected directly to a wireless
network. Therefore, wireless modems are built-in in laptops, smartphones and tablets for
this purpose.

Concept Check
 Explain the function of a modem.
 Based on types of modem, discuss their functions.
 Give examples of Internet package offered by ISPs in Malaysia and the type of modem
they use.

Other Types of Communications Devices

Network cards
A network card or network interface card (NIC) and sometimes called a network adapter
card, is used to connect a computer with a network via a physical cable or specifically an
Ethernet cable. Typically, network cards are installed in personal computers for local area
network (LAN). The purpose of a network card is to convert the data that come from the
cable to bits and bytes. This conversion will be read by the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a
computer. On the other hand, data that need to be transferred or shared to other devices
via the network will be converted by the network card to the format of the cable before data
transmission occurs.

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 In a wireless network, however, a wireless network card is used. Most devices today, for
example laptops and smartphones, have built-in wireless network cards. Other laptops or
notebooks may use wireless adapters slotted into the USB port of the device itself in order
to access a wireless network.

Figure 5-14 Network card, Wireless card and Wireless adapter

Wireless Access Points

A wireless access point is a device that broadcasts
radio signals so that other wireless devices can receive
the signals in order to access the network and the
Internet. The wireless access point also allows data
from wireless devices to be transferred to wired
devices. It is important to position the wireless access
point at a strategic place so that surrounding devices Figure 5-15 Wireless
can capture the signals. Access Point

Routers
A router is a device that connects networks. It
is used to connect at least two different
networks. A router can be used in any scale of
networks. For example, at home, a router
permits several computers to be connected to a
high-speed Internet connection via DSL modem. Figure 5-16 Router
One example of this kind of service is Unifi
package offered by Telekom Malaysia.

Hubs
A hub is a device that has multiple ports. It is used to connect computers in a network. The
problem with hub is, it repeats the same messages coming into one port to all other ports in
the same network. This leads to a lot of data traffic and slows down a network. Hubs are
more suitable to be used in a small network. See Figure 5-17.

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Switches
A switch is a central device in a network that controls the flow of messages. It transmits an
incoming message directly to a destination device. Switches are more suitable to be used in
a larger network. See Figure 5-17.

Figure 5-17 Hub and Switch

Communications Service

A communications service provides infrastructures for information to be transmitted from

one device to another device or devices over a network or the Internet. The services include
leased line, cable service, fibre-optic service, satellite connection service and cellular service
providers.

A leased line is a private line and normally a dedicated line to one company to transfer
data and voice. Leased lines are used by companies to connect distant location of branches
together. For example, Maybank may register to Telekom Malaysia for a leased line to
connect all branches of Maybank in Malaysia. In this case, Maybank has to pay some fees to
Telekom Malaysia either monthly or any term agreement.

A cable service is a service using coaxial cables provided by cable television companies.
These companies use their existing television cables to connect to the Internet.

A fibre optic service is a communication service that uses fibre-optic cables. An example
of company that operates fibre-optic services is Fibre Comm. Sdn. Bhd.

Satellite connection services are based on satellites to provide wireless connections.

Thuraya is a company in Dubai that provides mobile satellite communications. Whereas,
Astro is the main provider for satellite TV in Malaysia. Astro has exclusive satellite television
broadcasting rights in Malaysia until 2022.

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 Cellular service providers support data and voice transmission to wireless devices. In
Malaysia, examples of companies that offer cellular services are Celcom, Maxis, Digi and U-
Mobile.

The revolution of cellular radio is depicted in Table 5-4.

Table 5-4 Revolution of Cellular Radio

Generation Years Technology involved Usage
1G 1980s Advanced Mobile Phone Analog radio signals
System (AMPS)
2G 1990s GSM & CDMA – Code Digital radio signals
Division Multiple Access
3G 2000s GSM – Global System for Broadband data services
Mobile Communication
4G 2010s WiMax and LTE Same with 3G but the speed is 10
times faster. Maximum speed can be
up to 150Mbps.
5G 2020s. Broadband cellular Estimated mobile speeds more than
Start networks 10Gbps, a hundred times faster than
deployed 4G speed.
in 2019. 5G enables huge video downloads,
machine-to-machine
communications and low-latency in
data and applications.

Concept Check

 What is wireless access point?

 Why routers are needed in a network?
 Briefly explain the difference between a hub and a switch?

Data Transmission Specifications

Data transmission specifications determine rules and processes of how messages are being
transmitted from a sending device to a receiving device across the communications channel.
There are several factors that affect data transmission which include bandwidth and network
protocol.

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Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the amount of data that can pass through a communications channel in a given
amount of time. In other words, an Internet connection that has larger bandwidth can
transfer data much faster compared to an Internet connection that has smaller bandwidth.
Bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second or bytes per second. There are several
categories of bandwidth, which are voice band, medium band, baseband and broadband.
• Voice band is also known as low bandwidth. It is only suitable to transmit small amount
of data that does not require a lot of bandwidth. Low bandwidth is used for ordinary
telephone communication and it can also transmit text documents. However, voiceband
is too slow to transmit audio and video data.
• Medium band is not only capable of transmitting high speed data but also capable of
transmitting data over long distances. It is used in special leased lines to connect
midrange computers and mainframe computers.
• Baseband is capable of high-speed transmission, but it can only carry one signal at a time.
It is useful for connecting individual computers that are placed near to each other.
• Broadband is widely used for Internet connections today. Broadband provides high-
speed data transmission, which can transmit a large amount of data at once and can be
accessed at any time. Broadband can be set-up via DSL, cable, fibre-optic and satellite
connections. Because it allows multiple channel connections, broadband is replacing
baseband, the single-channel technology initially used in most computer networks.
Furthermore, with broadband technology, a large number of messages can be transmitted
simultaneously. As a result, several users can use the same broadband at the same time.
A broadband Internet account can move data anywhere from 512 Kbps to 2,000 Kbps or
even more.

Network Protocol

A network protocol is a standard procedure and process for exchanging data or information
between computers through a network. There are many protocols for different kinds of
information and functions.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) are two different
procedures that are often associated together.

Each computer on the Internet has its own identification unique number known as an IP
address. An example of an IPv4 address is 195.160.1.2. The function of the Internet protocol

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is to correctly relay the information between the sending computer and the receiving
computer by their IP addresses. Every information sent will have the sender’s IP address and
destination’s IP address. The information sent may go through several routers before it
reaches its destination. The Internet protocol will ensure that the information will arrive at
the designated destination.

IP address notation is actually derived from a domain name or URL which is a text-based
address. However, to remember the IP address is difficult. Therefore, a system that uses
Domain Name Server (DNS) was developed to convert the text-based URL to numeric IP
address. For example, whenever you enter the URL of IIUM (www.iium.edu.my) the DNS will
convert automatically to 10.1.2.94 before you can see the website on your screen.

Transmission Control Protocol or packetization is the process whereby information is

broken up into smaller packets before they are sent over the Internet. The use of packets
enables fast transmission because different packet can travel on different route and then
reassembled at the destination. The functions of TCP are to create the packets, reassembled
them in the correct order at the destination, and ensure no packets are lost during the
transmission.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a commonly used language to construct web pages.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used to transmit a HTML page over the web. This
protocol uses TCP/IP to manage the Web transmission.

Another related protocol to transmit sensitive data securely over the web is HTTPS. HTTPS
is an acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (SSL), which was first
introduced by Netscape. A Web page using this protocol will have https: at the beginning of
its Web address. For example, of a website with https, see Figure 5-18.

Figure 5-18 Web address begins with https

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 Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a standard security technology for
initiating an encrypted link between a server and a client—typically
a web server (website) and a browser, or a mail server and a mail
client (e.g., Microsoft Outlook).

Concept Check
 What is bandwidth?
 What is IP and why it is needed?
 Where HTTP is applicable?

Networks
A network is a collection of two or more computers connected to each other via cables or
wireless. A network allows computers to exchange data and information and share resources.
Resources can be software, hardware, files or facilitating any electronic communications.
Network’s setup can be different from one network to another based on the need and
purposes. See Figure 5-19 for a computer network illustration.

Some common terms used in networks include:

• Node – any device that is connected to a network such as a personal computer, a
laptop, a printer or a router.
• Client – any node that requests or uses the available resources on the network.
Normally a personal computer is a client.
• Server – any node that provides or shares resources to other nodes. An example of
server that provides specified tasks is an application server. This server provides
software and file server, and responsible for the centralized of file management and
storage.
• Network administrator – a person who is responsible to coordinate, maintain and
ensure that a network in an organization is running smoothly and up-to-date.

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 Figure 5-19 Computer Network

Advantages of having a network

Sharing file
Users in the same network may share the same files for reading, editing or copying, as long
as the permissions are given to them. The shared files will normally be in the network server.
If a group of users is working on one project, each user may put his/her files in one location
and then everyone in the group may access the files directly.

Sharing hardware
Users in the same network may share the same printer, scanner or fax machine. For example,
a department of twenty staff can configure one printer to be shared by everyone. The staff
may send their documents to the printer even though their computers are not connected
directly to the printer. This may save time because a user does not have to bring his/her file
to the computer that is connected directly with a printer. Another advantage is, it can also
save money as there is no need to buy many printers.

Sharing software
Users in the same network may share the same software. Moreover, they not even have to
install or download the software to their own devices. For example, in IIUM, staff and
students are using iTa’leem cloud (Integrated Teaching and Learning Environment System)
wherever they are as long as they are in networks. Furthermore, a group licensing price is
cheaper compared to buying a single license for one computer.

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Facilitating communications
Network users may communicate with each other by using e-mails and other instant
messaging applications like Skype and WhatsApp. Even though different computers may be
running on different platform, they may still communicate with each other as long as they are
in the networks. For example, a smartphone using iOS can send a WhatsApp message to a
smartphone using Android.

Concept Check
 What is a computer network? What are the resources involved?
 Define some terms exist in a network such as node, client and server.
 List the advantages of having a network.

Network Types
There are several types of network which are classified by the area of their coverage.

Personal Area Network (PAN)

A personal area network connects devices that are close to each other or at immediate
surroundings, typically the distance is less than 30 feet. PAN is a wireless system and include
the transmission of data between devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablet computers
etc. For example, PAN may use Bluetooth to connect devices. In this case, PAN may connect
a smartphone to a car entertainment device. The driver may receive a call via the car
entertainment device instead of using his smartphone.

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 Figure 5-20 Personal Area Network

Another example is, PAN may also connect a tablet computer with a smartphone using
the smartphone’s hotspot. By connecting to PAN, a tablet user can access the Internet
through mobile data of the smartphone. (See Figure 5-20).

Local Area Network (LAN)

A local area network connects
computers and peripherals to a
server within a close distance, such
as in a computer laboratory,
department, school, office building
or group of buildings. LAN can span
up to 1 km in radius. Typically,
LANs are extensively used and
operated privately in colleges,
universities and many types of
organizations. By using LAN, many
Figure 5-21 Local Area Network (LAN)
computers may share and print to
the same printer and use the same
software or even use the same
storage server.

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Wireless LAN (WLAN)
A wireless local area network is a LAN
without using cables. A WLAN is an
alternative to a LAN that uses Ethernet
cables. A WLAN is common in an office
or large campuses. In a WLAN
environment, wireless access point is
used. Any node that has a wireless
connection device such as wireless
network card will get into the WLAN by
receiving the broadcast signal from the
Figure 5-22 Wireless LAN (WLAN)
wireless access point.

For security purposes, a WLAN normally will need a strong password. This is to avoid
anyone from using the WLAN without permission.

Home Area Network (HAN)

A home area network is a LAN that operates in a house or an apartment. In a home network,
devices can be connected via wired or wireless. Devices can share resources and can have
common Internet connection. For example, those who registered to Streamyx or Unifi from
Telekom Malaysia can have an Internet connection in their houses.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

A metropolitan area network is
used to link between office
buildings in a city. It comprises of
several LANs connected together.
In terms of geographical area, a
MAN covers larger area than a LAN
but smaller area than a WAN. A
MAN may span in the range of 5 to
50 kilometres in diameter.
Typically, a MAN is operated by a
service provider that provides an
Figure 5-23 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
Internet connection or cable
television to a city.

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 For example, Telekom Malaysia provides Unifi service via fibre optic to users in Shah Alam
to access the Internet and Astro provides a cable television service via satellite for the whole
population in Kuala Lumpur.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

A wide area network spans a large
geographical area. It comprises of LANs
and MANs, public and private networks. A
WAN is connected via cables, telephone
lines, microwave relays or satellite. It can
be in a state, a country or worldwide. The
largest WAN in the world is the Internet.
With the Internet, people all over the
world can communicate with each other Figure 5-24 Wide Area Network (WAN)
effectively and efficiently.

Concept Check
 What is a LAN?
 What is the difference between a LAN, a WLAN and a HAN?
 Why a WAN is said the largest Internet in the world?

Network Architecture
Network architecture describes the arrangement of nodes on a network (network
topologies) and how resources are coordinated and shared (network strategies).

Network Topologies
Network topology refers to the physical set-up of all nodes in a network. The arrangement
can be in several ways. The most common network topologies are as follows:
Bus Network
Each node in this network is connected to a
backbone cable or a bus. All communications will
pass through this bus.

Figure 5-25 Bus Network

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Ring Network
All nodes in this network are connected to one
another in a circle. Data is passed from one node
to another node in one direction until it reaches
the destination node.

Figure 5-26 Ring Network

Star Network
In this network, all nodes are connected to a
central switch or server. Data will be passed to
the central switch first, then the switch will pass
it to the recipient node. Star network topology is
the most common network topology that is used
today. The reason is the arrangement can be
applied from small size network in a home to a
very large size network in a big corporation. Figure 5-27 Star Network

Mesh Network
Every node is connected to one or two other
nodes in the same network (partial mesh) or
every node is connected to every other node (full
mesh). This results in a greatest redundancy. In
the case where one node fails, the network
traffic can still be directed to any other node. A
Mesh network is normally implemented in a
Wireless LAN.
Figure 5-28 Mesh Network

Hybrid Network
In this network, two or more different network
topologies are combined. It includes both wired
and wireless network. This network provides
greater flexibility whereby a lot more computers
are connected to the Internet.

Figure 5-29 Hybrid Network

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Network Strategies
Network strategies refer to how resources are coordinated and shared in a network. There
are two common network strategies, which are Client/Server and Peer-to-Peer (P2P).

Client/Server
In a client/server network, one or more nodes (clients) are connected to a central computer
called a server. The clients request from the server and the server, also known as host
computer, provides resources.

In a client/server network, it can be one server or several dedicated servers perform

multiple tasks. However, each server performs a specific task based on the scale of the
network. For example, in a university network, a database server can be used to store
students’ information, a network server can be used to manage and run the network and an
applications server to store all related programs that are used in the university.

Listed below are some of the advantages of using this strategy.

• Ability to handle implementation of a
very large network efficiently.
• Powerful on network control and
monitoring activities.
• Enforcement on security such as an
authorization is required in order to
access the system. For example, a unique
user id and strong password are required
to access a network.
• Availability of common storage for data
backup.
Figure 5-30 Client/Server Network

The disadvantages of client/server are the high cost in the implementation and
maintenance purposes.

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 Client/Server strategy implementation commonly exits in LAN,
MAN and WAN environments. In these environments, servers
provide services or information to clients (devices) in the networks;
or clients also can request services from the servers.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
In a peer-to-peer network, all nodes have
equal authority. The same node can be a
client and a server. In a P2P, two or more
computers are connected directly with no
centralized server. All computers may share
software and peripheral devices connected to
any computer.

The advantages of P2P are that they are

easy to set-up and may be cheap or free. The
disadvantages are lack of security controls Figure 5-31 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Network
and only suitable for a very small network
such as a home network or when the number
of computers is less than ten.

Concept Check
 What is a network strategy?
 Discuss the advantages of Client/Server network.
 Why peer-to-peer (P2P) network is not recommended in a big company?

Organizational Networks
Different organizations have different ways of setting-up their networks including what
operating system and applications are used, how to manage the resources and who can
access the network. The organizational network is sometimes influenced by the type of
businesses that the organizations do. Many organizations set up Internet technologies

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networks in order to have effective and secure communications internally (within the
organization) and externally (with other organizations).

Internet Technologies
Internet technologies are networks based on IP addresses. Data are sent to a destination
computer based on the IP address of the computer. Two common Internet technologies are
intranet and extranet. They are used by many organizations in order to secure and support
their operations.

Intranet is a private network within one organization. In this network, users in an

organization use the same network to share information, operational systems, computing and
telephone services. All users are given with a unique user id and a password. Intranet
network can be in different locations such as a university that has campuses in several
locations. All these campuses are considered under the same Intranet. Users at any campus
can access the intranet as long as they have a valid user id.

Extranet is a private network that connects more than one organization. Basically, the
organizations are connected due to business reasons, for example, between manufacturers
and suppliers, vendors and customers, and business partners. The network connection and
access are highly secured and only limited information is shared. For example, Proton may
share its schedule of the next coming car model to be manufactured with its suppliers of tyres,
paints, engines etc. With the sharing, the suppliers can get ready with their products, and
make the business more efficient.

Network Security
Network security refers to any procedure taken to protect a network from unauthorized
access, misuse, unavailability, threats, data tamper and inaccuracy and so forth.
Implementation of network security can be done through hardware and software. However,
it is really a challenge to an organization to protect its networks especially when the networks
are located at different geographic locations. As such, an organization may require different
methods of protections. The following are three common network securities that can be
applied to protect a network which are firewall, intrusion detection systems (IDS) and virtual
private network (VPN).

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 Please note that the
main difference
between firewall and
IDS is, the former
performs actions such
as blocking or filtering
of traffic, whereas,
the latter detects and
alert a system
administrator to stop
the suspicious attack.
(See Figure 5-32). Figure 5-33 Firewall and Intrusion Detection System (IDS)
activities

A firewall basically monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based
on presetting rules. For example, a company may limit the size of an attachment file from an
incoming e-mail. If the size of the file is greater than the set rules, the e-mail will bounce back
to the sender. A firewall can be hardware-based or software-based or both. A firewall should
be placed at the first line of defense in any network. (See Figure 5-33).

Figure 5-33 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Network

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a software or hardware that analyses all network
traffics. In this case, all devices that connected to the network are being monitor by the
system (IDS). If there is any suspicious activity or abnormal behaviour which not follow the
setting as per configuration, the system will alert the system or the network administrator.
Once receive the alert, the network administrator can take an action such as broadcasting the
warning message to the entire network’s devices (although by right, the network
administrator knows which device (IP) is doing that) or block the activity. If the alert goes to
the central system, the log will be used to investigate either malicious activity is going on or
false alarm. IDS should be placed after the firewall. (See Figure 5-34).

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 Figure 5-35 Intrusion Detection System
The following are suspicious network activities or abnormal behaviour that can capture
by an IDS:
• A desktop is downloading a very big video file during office hours. This mean the
employee involved are doing something else and not focusing to his work.
• Malicious software such as trojan horses attack the network or a node. IDS detects
pattern or number of bytes in the network is not as usual.
• Unauthorized clients and software. For example, an employee cannot access a payroll
system but trying many times by guessing a password to access the system.

A virtual private network (VPN)

is a secure private network that
uses a public network (usually the
Internet) to connect a remote
employee and his organization’s
internal network. Before the
network can be established, the
employee must launch the VPN
system (client software) and key-
in some credentials from a laptop
or desktop that connected to the
Internet. Figure 5-365 Virtual Private Network

These credentials will be encrypted and passed through the immediate network to the
VPN server (NAS) in the organization side to verify the client. If the credentials are valid, the
gateway for the VPN will open, and the client can access the organization’s network as if they
are physically connected.

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Concept Check

 Compare intranets and extranets in Internet technologies.

 List suspicious activities that can be captured by an IDS.
 What are virtual private networks?

ISLAM AND IT
Allah SWT has given aqal or mind to mankind that allow man to create powerful network
devices for communications in the world. Communications and networks allow human to
keep in touch in order to strengthen the relationship of brotherhood in Islam using various
applications that are available on the Internet.

Here are a few verses of Al-Quran to show of Allah's great creation:

Chapter 3 Ali ‘Imran: verse 190:

Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and
day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding.
Chapter 3 Ali ‘Imran: verse 191:
Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides,
and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the
thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us
salvation from the penalty of the Fire.
Chapter 42 Asy-Syura: verse 51:
It is not fitting for a man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration, or from
behind a veil, or by the sending of a messenger to reveal, with Allah’s permission, what
Allah wills: for He is Most High, Most Wise.

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SUMMARY
The concept of computer communications means the process of sharing and transferring data
and information among two computers or more. Communications systems are electronic
systems that exchange data from one location to another location either wired or wireless.

There are four basic elements involved in a communications system including sending and
receiving devices, communications channels, communications devices and data transmission
specifications.

A network is a collection of two or more computers connected to each other via cables or
wireless that allow them to exchange data and information and share resources.

Common types of network are Personal Area Network (PAN), Local Area Network (LAN),
Wireless LAN (WLAN), Home Area Network (HAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and
Wide Area Network (WAN). Network architecture includes network topologies and network
strategies. Network security is any procedure taken to protect a network and the
implementation can be done through hardware and software.

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GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
Backhaul – A second or subsequent microwave link in WiMAX technology.
Base Transceiver Station (BTS) – telecoms infrastructure used to enable wireless
communication between subscriber mobile and telecoms operator network.
Cell – A network area. Coverage area that allows a mobile to make and receive a call, or have
access to the Internet.
Cellular phone – mobile phone, cell phone, smartphone or sometimes people just call it as a
mobile. This type of phone can be accessed via radio wave technology.
Demodulator – is the device that converts from analog signals to digital signals.
Domain Name Servers (DNS) – are the Internet's equivalent of a phone book. They maintain
a directory of domain names and translate them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
Ethernet cable – twisted-pair cable widely used in networks and to connect a variety of
devices to the system unit.
Handshake – when one device sends a message to another device indicating that it wants to
establish a communications channel. The two devices then send several messages back and
forth that enable them to agree on a communications protocol.
Host computer – A device in client server network that control all resources, hardware and
software on the network. And also, as a centralize storage for files and applications.
IEEE – The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers. It was formed in 1963 in USA.
iTa’leem - iTa'leem stands for Innovative Teaching and Learning Environment System. This is
IIUM e-learning platform. Currently the application is use under Cloud Computing.
Modulator – is the device that converts from digital signals to analog signals.
Network Administrator – is responsible to coordinate and maintain an organization's
computer network up to date and running smoothly. Any organization that uses multiple
computers or software platforms needs a network administrator to coordinate the different
systems.
VPN client software – A software that install or configure on remote employee’s computer,
in order to allow the employee to access the company’s server(s) from a remote location.

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PRACTICES
Multiple-Choice Questions

1. How many elements of communications system discussed in this chapter?

A. One C. Three

B. Two D. Four

2. Which statement below does not mention in this chapter regarding advantages of having
a network?
A. Facilitate communications C. Hardware sharing

B. Improve business profit D. Software sharing

3. The most legacy of wireless connection technology is

A. Wi-fi C. Bluetooth

B. infrared D. microwave

4. Which type of modem provides 56Kbps transmission speed?

A. DSL C. Dial-up

B. Cable D. Wireless

5. What is the name of a communications device that broadcasts radio signal to other
wireless devices in order to access the Internet?
A. Wireless modem C. Wireless access point

B. Wireless adapter D. Wireless network card

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6. This device repeats the same messages come to one port and to all other ports in the
same network.
A. Hub C. Switch

B. Router D. Modem

7. Which of the following statement is disadvantage of having wireless communications?

A. Easy to set-up C. Adaptable to many portable devices
B. No security weaknesses D. Less interference from other devices

8. TCP stands for?

A. Transmission Control Protocol C. Technology Centre Protocol

B. Transmission Control Packet D. Technology Centre Packet

9. Network security is any procedure taken to protect a network from the followings EXCEPT
A. accuracy C. destruction

B. data tamper D. computer threats

10. Bus, ring and star are three categories of network __________,
A. nodes C. strategies

B. protocols D. topologies

Short Answer Questions

1. A __________ is a device that connects network. It is use to connect at least two different
networks.

2. This type of cable widely used for cable television network to deliver television signal.
Name this cable: ____________.

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3. __________ was created based on IEEE 802.16 standard with maximum speed of data
transfer can reach up to 70 Mbps.

4. Using _______________ technology a large number of messages can be transmitted

simultaneously.
5. __________________ is a program that automatically analyses all network traffics, from
any suspicious activity.

Discussions
1. Find any advertisement from any ISP regarding their Internet services. Based on your
knowledge of this topic, discuss about their services from several perspectives like
capacity data transfer or bandwidth, data transfer rate, devices used, price rate per
month, per week and so forth.

2. Discuss three categories of bandwidth which are voice band, medium band and base
band. State the similarities and differences among them and with broadband too.

3. Based on any network type, describe on its network topology and the strategy that it may
use. Include any network security if applicable.

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57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
PRIVACY, SECURITY,
AND ETHICS

66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Explain privacy and security issues in using computers
• Describe computer criminals (cyber criminals) and computer crimes (cybercrimes)
• Discuss issues on computer security
• Describe the security measures required
• Understand ethical issues from both general and Islamic perspectives

Introduction
Computers are used extensively for making our life easier and more productive. At present,
the Internet connection becomes so important to complete various tasks that relate to works
and social communications.

There are many challenges in protecting our

computers’ data and the computers’ system.
Everyone has the idea of Illusion of anonymity as
pictured in Figure 6-1. It is an assumption that we
are safe using our computers and no one knows
about our surfing activities. However, this issue does
not go along with the assumption. Accessing the
Internet could actually affect our privacy and
security if we are not aware of the threats. This
chapter highlights privacy, security and ethics while
using the computers and networks. Figure 6-1 Illusion of Anonymity

Privacy
Have we ever questioned about our privacy while using our computers? Have we ever
questioned about the safety of giving our data to government agencies or other companies?
Sometimes we wonder how we can get offer letters to further our studies in some certain
private colleges. How did these colleges know that we had just finished our SPM and planned
to further our studies?

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 Privacy in this chapter refers to the right of individuals and companies to preserve and
protect their data especially electronic data from the access of third parties. Privacy is
essential. Losing our privacy means losing our personal power. Thus, privacy means the ability
to control when, how, and to whom our personal information is used.

Concerns
There are three main concerns on privacy, which deal with accuracy, property and access.
• Accuracy refers to how accurate and correct the recorded information.
• Property refers to simply about the ownership of the information. Once a person
gives his information to a certain department or agency, can the department or
agency consider that the information belongs to them? Can they share the
information to any other party?
• Access refers to the right of accessing the information. Is there any limitation on who
can access the information?
Figure 6-2 shows a scenario on privacy that deal with accuracy, property, access, and its
consequences.

Figure 6-2 Scenario on Accuracy, Property and Access

Data Collection
In the past, data collection is easier to maintain because individuals, organizations or
departments maintained their information. For example, each retail store has its own credit

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files, a government maintains separate records it owned, and doctors had their own patient
files. No one can access the data without authorization.

Large Databases
Today, these data collections are stored online and centralized for easy access by individuals
or organizations. A department links its data with the data from other departments by using
certain keywords or unique identifiers such as the identification card number or passport
number. The data linkages create large databases including large electronic profiles/digital
profiles. The large databases of electronic profiles include personal details such as age,
address, telephone number, spending habits, personal interests, marital status, number of
dependents, age of dependents, education history, medical history and so on. These personal
data are confidential and accessible by authorized users. However, many individuals and
organizations questioned whether these data are really private.

Information Brokers
Information brokers refer to people who collect and analyze such personal data. They use
data available from large databases or data available publicly to create electronic profiles.
Then, they sell the electronic profiles to advertising and marketing company that actually
expose our privacy. Sometimes, it is annoying to receive a message in the middle of the night
from the ads that we do not need.

Google’s Street View (Collecting public, but personally identifying

information)
Many data nowadays deal with images, pictures, video and data from surveys that are
captured or taken for public use. However, in some conditions, these data turn out to be very
personal. For example, Google’s Street View is an application to help people to view and
explore places in this world for some good purposes. Figure 6-3 shows Google’s Street View
car with a camera, moves at different places all over the world to take pictures and record
images from different angles. Thus, if we miss our home, Google’s Street View allows us to
view our home area from many different angles based on our home address.

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 However, this application also allows other
people to misuse it for committing crimes or
bad things. People could observe their targets
for some time and set plans for bad actions
such as robbing.

Figure 6-3 Google Street View’s Car

Figure 6-4 and figure 6-5 show some pictures taken somewhere in housing areas and
Medical Centre IIUM at Kuantan campus that we can get from Instant Google Street View.

Figure 6-4 A view in a housing area from Instant Google Street View

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 Figure 6-5 A view on a medical centre from Instant Google Street View

Drones
Another popular example on this matter is the use of drones as shown in Figure 6-6. Similar
to Google’s Street View, drones are widely used by some governments and companies to take
pictures, record panoramas, monitor activities on certain areas and then send the data to the
cloud.

Figure 6-6 Monitoring activities by a drone

Online Identity
Online identity is known as Internet identity. It refers to any data associated with websites
usages. As long as we use the Internet, we will have online identity. Whatever details to
identify us in any Internet communities and websites either within our consent or without

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our consent are our online identities. It is within our consent when we deliberately filled in
forms to subscribe magazines, returned products’ warranty registration cards, or simply
entering contests. It is without our consent when we do not realize our websites surfing are
somehow expose our online identities that include our interests/hobbies, online transactions,
online shopping, online calendar (schedules/time spent), etc. Companies/other parties that
keep our online identities are able to sell the contents of their database to national marketing
firms and internet advertising firms without our knowledge/consent. This is called spreading
information without consent. Some internet community like Facebook do ask our permission
to allow them to access our emails. Since we need to have Facebook accounts, we do agree
with the terms and conditions. However, the limit they can access our data is still vague. By
right, companies should inform people if they plan to provide personal information to others,
and people should have the rights to deny such use. Many companies today allow people to
specify whether they agree if their personal information is to be distributed.

Therefore, online Identity is the information that people voluntarily post about
themselves online such as in social networking, blogging, and photo and video-sharing sites,
plus the information from any online activities. The intimate details of lives shared between
friends and the online activities could cause future consequences because the archiving and
search features of the web make the information available to anyone who cares to look.

Mistaken Identity
Spreading inaccurate information is known as mistaken identity. Collection of electronic
profiles about someone’s personal data may be mistakenly recorded as belongs to other
people. Pictures of two peoples maybe similar to each other. Names of two people may be
the same. Only the identification card numbers are different. Therefore, a wrong Identity
Card number recorded by a police officer would end up with a wrong person goes to prison.
This is called mistaken identity.

Threats
Privacy issues may lead to threats that often create danger to people. Basically, there are
two kinds of threats in using computers:
• threats from Web
• threats from network.

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Threats from web
Threats from web are also known as web threats. A web threat is described as any threat that
makes use of the World Wide Web to promote cybercrime. Web threats use various kinds of
malware to get information using http or https protocols and other protocols such as email
addresses. Whenever we access a web site or an email address, cookies and web bugs can
enter our computer system without our knowledge to steal information such as online
banking details which cause money transfers to unknown parties.

Cookies
Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored on users’ computer hard disk from
visited websites. The purposes of cookies are to keep track user preferences, store user
passwords, keep track of items in users’ shopping sites, track how often users visit a site and
the web pages they visit while at the site, and target for advertisements. There are two types
of cookies: first-party cookies and third-party cookies (tracking cookies).

First-party cookies refer to small amount of texts stored in users’ computers created
by the current visiting websites. All web browsers allow first-party cookies unless users
disabled these first-party cookies.

Third-party cookie is a small data file stored in user’s computers created by an

advertising company with an advertisement on the visited website. Some web browsers such
as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Google Chrome allow these third-party
cookies. Like first-party cookies, users can always block the third-party cookies by using the
Web Browsers’ Privacy panel under Internet Options. The following figure differentiates
between the cookies.

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 Figure 6-7 First-Party Cookie Verses Third-Party Cookie

Web Bugs

A type of software called a web bug hides itself on web pages or

in e-mail messages in the form of graphical images. The size of
the graphic is 1 x 1 pixel and has the same colour with its
background. Web bugs are also known as web beacons, tracking
bugs, tags or page tags. Web businesses use web bugs to monitor Figure 6-7 Web Bug
online habits of websites visitors. Often, web bugs link to a
cookie stored on a hard disk.

Threats from Network

Networks allow us to share our resources and applications including operating system easily.
Sharing through a network makes our jobs’ productivity increase in quality. However, when
we are on a network, some programs attached to it may be harmful as they record our
computer activities steps by steps. These programs are known as spyware.

Spyware
Spyware is a program placed in a computer without the user’s knowledge which secretly
collects information about the user’s computer activities and sends back the information to
companies. Employee monitoring software and keystroke logger are examples of spyware.

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Employee Monitoring Software
Employee monitoring software allows employers to observe, record, and review employees’
use of computer, including all kind of communications through e-mail messages, keyboard
activities (used to measure productivity), and web sites visited. See figure 6-8 on how an
employee monitoring software called SONAR Interguard work. This is mainly to help keep the
employees focused on their tasks. With this software, the employer may even get to know
the employees’ personal matters which are not related to the work at all as shown in figure
6-9. This monitoring can also give threats to employees such as making harder for the
employees to get promotions. Table 6-1 presents a list of best employee monitoring software
in 2021.

Employee monitoring software in mobile computing is called snoopware. It is a

malware capable of tracking smartphone operation. Snoopware can track phone calls, text
messages, voicemail, and e-mails in stealth mode, or it can be used to turn on the phone's
camera and microphone without the user's knowledge.
Ethically, employers should notify the employees regarding the usage of employee
monitoring software in their work place. Normally snoopware enters a smartphone through
a text message or multi-media message. Thus, it is not advising to open messages from
unknown sources.

Figure 6-8 Monitoring activities by SONAR

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 Figure 6-9 Capabilities of SONAR Interguard

Keystroke Logger or Keylogger

A Keystroke logger or a keylogger or system monitor is another software that keep track of
what user keyed-in not only on computers’ keyboards, but also on smartphones. To some
degree, it is ethical to use a keylogger especially by some authorities such as parents,
employers and law enforcement agencies. There is more monitoring software available.
Table 6-1 lists other top employee monitoring software.

Table 6-1 Best 2021 Employee Monitoring Software

Best for sophisticated monitoring needs Best for broad monitoring and tracking
needs

Best for managing remote workers Best for deep monitoring, productivity
tracking, and scoring

Best for monitoring remote workers and Best for SMB tracking and monitoring
analyzing productivity

Best for enterprise users requiring on- Best for monitoring with
premises installs cybersecurity

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Concept Check

 Describe the threats from electronic profiles.

 Is it ethical to spy on someone’s computer activities? Discuss.

Security

Definition
Security is also known as cyber security or IT (Information Technology) security. In using
computers for jobs and other activities, sometimes we do not alert about the threats and risks
that may do harmful or distractions to our computer system. Surely, we want to protect, to
limit, and to prevent our hardware, software, and files from being accessed by other people
without our knowledge and permission that may cause theft and/or damages.

Threats
We need to be alert about security threats coming from computer criminals. These criminals
are involved in computer crimes and may have access to our data, software and hardware for
their benefits. We also need to be aware about the ongoing computer threats and hazards
due to climate, country’s political condition, and human carelessness.

Computer Criminals
Computer criminals refer to potential people who have or may not have authorized access to
our computer system and can take opportunities for their own benefits or satisfactions. They
include the following categories of people:

Hackers
Hackers are people who gain unauthorized access to our computer system, either for fun or
for vulnerable checking. Normally they do not do any harm to the computer system.
However, it is still violating people’s right for accessing their computer system without
consent.

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Crackers
Crackers are people who gain unauthorized access to our computer system for bad intentions,
such as to gain profits and to crack a system. Crackers are dangerous compared to hackers.
By standard law, crackers are criminals to be put behind bars.

Employees
Employees are people who work in a company and have access to customers’ and company’s
information. Untrustworthy employees can betray the company by selling information about
customers or the company.

Organized Crime Groups

An organized crime group is a group of people who have trainings to get certain valuable
information from computer systems for illegal profit gain. These expert people commit the
cybercrimes very well and efficient. They plan and manage well about their targets and ways
to escape from being caught by authorities.

Terrorists
A group of people who get unauthorized access and control of computer systems to achieve
their political aims is referred to as terrorists. Terrorists normally target the countries’ rulers
and the chief police officers. However, their attacks affect deadly to the society and public
properties as shown in Figure 6-10.

Figure 6-10 Houses and area were damaged after terrorist attack

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Computer Crimes
Computer crimes or also known as cybercrimes are criminal offenses that deal with
computers and networks. In other word, a cybercrime refers to any crime conducted through
the Internet. It has becoming a fast-growing crime type. More and more criminals commit a
diverse range of crimes without border that harm or threat people in all over the world. Here
is a list of some computer crimes.

Malicious Software or Malware

Malicious software are small programs installed in our computer or our mobile devices
without us knowing about them. Their functions are to crash or control our devices or to keep
track our internet activity. This software is also capable of sending our information back to
the sender. Normally, malware enter our devices through websites or emails. This malware
may be hidden and is able to stay longer in our devices with the help of software called
Rootkits. Rootkits is designed to hide the processes or files entered in our computers. This
software makes it difficult to detect the malware. Common malware types include viruses,
worms, Trojans, and Zombies/Botnets.

Viruses are small programs deposited our devices to infect files either to slow down the
processing or to alter the system functionalities. The target is normally on the executable
files but other files may also be infected. Once a virus enters a hosted file, it will only react
when the file is executed. It can also start to react based on a certain condition such as a
specific date.
• Worms are small programs entered our computer to get our computer and other
connected computers stuck and gradually stop working. Unlike viruses, worms do not
infect files. Once worms get into our computers, they will keep duplicating themselves
and spread to other computers through some communication channels such as emails
or instant messaging.

• Trojans or Trojan horses are type of malware, which often seem as legal software.
They can be any malicious program that represents itself as a useful and an interesting
program like antivirus program. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not self-
replicate. By some tricks, Trojans loaded and executed on computer system. They
normally become spies, get data, and gain illegal access to the computer system.

• Zombies also known as bots or botnets. A computer becomes a zombie when

controlled by rogue hackers to perform denial of service (DOS) attacks and to spread
e-mail spams and malware. As a zombie, a computer will slow down its processes,

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 often crash, have bounce-back e-mail messages, take longer time to shut down or
restart, receive unexplained error messages, or suddenly close web browsers. Many
zombies become botnets.

Denial of Service Attack

A denial-of-service (DoS) attack is an attack from a malicious cyber threat actor that prevent
legitimate users from accessing information systems, computers, or other network resources.
The DoS attack blocks accessing services involving e-mail, blogs, online accounts (e.g. banking)
or other services that rely on the affected device or network. Nowadays, there is a distributed
denial-of-service (DDoS) attack where the attack is coming from a group of malicious cyber
threat actors that target legitimate users. The consequences of this attack cost both money
and resources. Figure 6-11 lists four common signs of a DoS/DDoS attack.

Figure 6-11 Signs of a DoS/DDoS attack

Internet Scam-Phishing
Internet scam - phishing is something good offered to trick people into spending their money
or information. Normally, it involves fake online selling from either a fake website or a fake
advertisement on a legal retailer site. This scam is done by scammers who use e-mails, ads,
and/or pop ups. An online dating website can also be a part of scam.

Social Networking Risks

Social networking risks are risks faced by Internet users who deliberately released their
information on social networking site such as Facebook. By sharing, whatever we published,
our pictures and our properties may danger our lives or risk our privacy. This could also lead
to online harassment when other people stalked and threatened us on the Internet.

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Rogue Wi-Fi Hotspots
Rogue Wi-Fi Hotspots are the Wi-Fi Internet connections that look like the connections are
owned by certain shops or restaurants or hotels for their customers’ use. However, these
connections are belonging to some criminals or hackers. Once the user gets into a rogue Wi-
Fi hotspot through Rogue Access Point (AP), these hackers can access the data. AP is the
device that provide Wi-Fi. See figure 6-12.

Figure 6-12 Rogue Wi-Fi Hotspot

Theft or Identity Theft

Theft or Identity theft occurs when a person gains access to your information and misuses it
for his own gain. For example, buying online items on your credit card or transferring your
money into their accounts.

Data Manipulation
Data manipulation refers to the ability to alter data in applications and databases for some
targets either for profit gain or for fun. Crackers who do not have permissions to access the
data can do alteration of data. Sometimes, data manipulation becomes more dangerous
when the crackers request some ransoms before releasing the original correct data. Even
when the hackers did it for fun, the chaos produced is greatly dangerous to the victims.

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Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a new form bullying in this digital era by using computers, tablets and/or
smartphones. It can humiliate and insult the person throughout days and nights. The
humiliation leaves permanent bad effect to entire life of a person especially a child. Some
children were so stressed that they ended up to committing suicides. Figure 6-13 shows some
example of cyberbullying. Once the humiliations become viral in digital devices, it is hard to
erase. The parents and teachers normally are not aware of this cyberbullying for it is hard to
detect unless the children explain about it. Cyberbullying rate is getting higher as the world
is getting more advanced in information technology.

Figure 6-13 Humiliations in Cyberbullying

There are more types of threats such as:

Cyber War Cyber Terror

• Also known as Cyber • Also known as Cyber

Warfare. Terrorism.
• New weapons replacing • The use of IT to organize
firearms and nuclear and execute attacks against
weapons: hackers, bots, network computer systems
denial of service attacks, and telecommunications
drones. infrastructures, or for
• Started in 1991 during the exchanging information or
Gulf War, the first war with making threats.
IT • Done by organized
• In 2003, formal cyber terrorists.
warfare unit as part of the
Chinese military.

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Other Hazards (Natural Hazards, Technological Failures, Human
Errors, Civil Strife)
Other hazards can be disasters due to
“mother nature” or nature stability of a
country. Sometimes, the hazards may
cause by the computer technical failures,
the carelessness of administrators, and civil
strife. Natural hazards happen due to
extreme climates or events such as
earthquakes, flood, thunder and lightning,
fire or huge waves as in Figure 6-14. These Figure 6-14 Flood in Malaysia
events normally have bad effects to the
regions and the people in the form of loss of lives or properties including data, software and
hardware.

Technological failures include damaged cables or failure of electrical supplies that can
lead to the loss of data, software and hardware.

Human errors are mistakes done by the programmers or administrators. An officer

may place the computer system on an inappropriate place such as in a room that can be
accessed easily by small kids or reached by a flood. There are cases where the programmers
make mistakes, which disrupt the data from continuing processes of executions.

Civil strife refers to a situation of disorder society or disorder government that may
involve riots, sabotage, demonstrations made by certain groups to bring up certain rights and
issues in a country. Sometimes, it ends up with killing of many lives or other crimes.

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More hazards or disaster causes are listed in Figure 6-15 below.

Figure 6-15 Disaster causes

Security Measures
Despite of all the computer threats, there are various ways for the computer system to be
secured or protected. The protection should cover data, software and hardware, plus
network activities. Preventions also play as important parts of security measures.

Access Restrictions
We can restrict access to our computer by having a password. A strong password normally
consists of combination of letters, symbols, and digits. A password should not represent any
of obvious information about a person or related information to the person. However,
hackers may sometimes be successful in accessing or penetrating a system after thousands of
attempts by using a dictionary attack software to guess a password of a computer or a file.

Other than a password, biometric scanning devices, such as in Figure 6-16, are used to
detect fingerprints, voices, and iris to restrict access to a computer or a data file. Access
restrictions may also include free parental control software available for personal computers
and handheld devices, which are capable of recording keystrokes, being alert on coming
emails, and blocking access to websites and programs.

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 Figure 6-16 Biometric Scanning

Data Loss Preventions

Request of login access or password is required to access to a computer system. In order to
prevent from being hacked, a password should be changed over a period. Other than these,
backup batteries for laptops, servers and files may also help in the preventions. Power supply
failures may cause interrupted service and data loss. Backup files are advised to be done as
frequent as possible by using RAID system, secondary storage and cloud storage. In addition,
the computer should be on a safe zone and out of reach of children or danger. Figure 6-17
lists some potential threats in data loss preventions.

Figure 6-17 Threats in Data Loss Prevention

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Encryptions
No matter how hard we try, sometimes hackers and crackers can still get access to our data
in our computer or our activities in the Internet. Another solution to secure our data is to
make the data difficult to understand by having encryptions.

What is encryption? An encryption is a process of converting data into a certain set of

codes or unrecognized form. Only authorized party can view and have access to the
encryption. This includes files, storage devices, and data passed through the wireless
networks and the Internet. See Figure 6-18 for a brief procedure on encryption. There is free
software to encrypt files, email address and webs. The URL that starts with https will request
the browser and the running site to encrypt all messages in order to have safer and more
secure transmission. Wireless networks restrict access to authorized users through wireless
network encryption such as WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access).

Figure 6-18 Brief procedures on encryption decryption

Disasters Recovery Plan (DRP)

An individual or a company should have plans to anticipate any natural disasters such as
earthquakes or floods for business continuity. The
plans include physical security that involves hiring
good employees, appropriate locations or places
for the computers, and hardware qualities.

A serious concern in data security is the

individual or the company should have data backup

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using other storage devices, which are located in other safe places. Normally, the other safe
places are about 15 kilometers away from the original locations. This includes the usage of
cloud storage. Figure 6-19 Disaster Recovery Plan

A disaster recovery plans will also train the employees on how they should continue
operating until the disaster is over. An incident of disaster still allows business continuity of
an organization. Overall, a well plan of disaster recovery deals with preparedness, response,
recovery, and mitigation as shown in Figure 6-19.

Computer Ethics
We expose to threats and dangers from computer usages that can cause chaos in our life.
None or less of these may happen if every user knows the ethics in using a computer. Ethics
refer to the standard moral conduct, which will guide a computer user in his communication
that may affect his and other people’s lives. It is an acceptable behavior or acceptable activity
while using a computer. Ethics is not the same as laws. A law is compulsory to be followed
whereas ethics is optional. It is considered as a crime in law when people disobey the imposed
laws whereas it is considered as an immoral conduct in ethics. An example of law protections
is on copyright.

Copyright
Copyright is the right of a person’s Intellectual property that covers patents, trademarks,
industrial designs, writings, recordings, drawings, geographical indications and layout designs.
Refer to Figure 6-20 for copyright activities. There is a law on copyright that protects a
person’s work on literary, musical or
artistic protects throughout his life and 50
years after his death. For sound
recordings, broadcasts and films, the act
protects 50 years after the works
published. The act also has the power to
arrest (including without warrant), enter
premises suspected of having copies,
search, and stop transgressing copies and
projects.
Figure 6-20 Copyright Activities

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 Nowadays, a company must have careful screening into the background of its workers.
The incident of transferring money from customers’ accounts into a bank officer’s account
should be a great lesson for all.

People who practice religions, which encourage people to do good deeds in this world,
may find easier to follow ethics. They are more trusted since they believe that God see them
at all time. Therefore, they will never do things that are not ethical. Is it ethical? Questions
like this will always be in their hearts before they proceed with any action. Sending false
messages to other people or silly jokes in our Facebooks is unethical since we are telling sort
of lies and taking another people’s time. There are three types of unethical actions:
Plagiarism, Software Piracy and Digital Piracy.

Plagiarism
Any act of copying someone’s ideas or writings or works and considered them as our work
without giving any credit to the owner is called plagiarism. For an example, someone’s
writing who simply copied the writing from other person is definitely consider as plagiarism.
Cut and paste information and images from a digital source or a writing is also plagiarism.
Students prone to plagiarize in their writings and presentations. Refer to Figure 6-21. To
avoid plagiarism, one can quote or cite the references from the sources of information.

Figure 6-21 Types of plagiarism to avoid

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Software Piracy
Any act that involves in downloading or copying, distributing and selling computer software
(SW) are known as software piracy or pirated software. Software piracy allows users to enjoy
using a software for free or small fee without credit to the software owner as shown in figure
6-22.

Figure 6-22 Types of plagiarism to avoid

Digital Piracy
Any act that involves in downloading or copying online copyrighted content such as music,
pictures, videos, movies, games, books or software that belongs to other people or
companies, are known as digital piracy or online piracy. These actions include:
• changing the setting of downloaded software.
• downloading/copying digital content from a friend or internet who bought it either
for free or small token.
• Taking digital content from peer-to-peer networks or file-sharing servers and copying
it.
• Buying digital content from the one who get the content without permission and sell
illegal copies.

You may not see your victims when you download illegal content or share copyrighted
content with others, but digital piracy robs millions of people of their hard-earned money.

There are privacy laws in Malaysia:

• Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA)
• Computer Crimes Act 1997
• Communication and Multimedia Act 1998
• The Penal Code
• The Copyright Act 1987
Malaysia also supports education on computer ethics.
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ISLAM AND IT
Computer technology plays an important role in our life. It helps us at all time to increase our
productivity, to connect us with friends, family, and customers. At the same time, it may also
increase some discomforts in the relationships since bad news may easily spread so fast.
Therefore, in Islam, we should check the truth of the news before forwarding to other people.

Hopefully, this chapter make us realize about the do and do not that we should do or
avoid. The chapter also revealed about the danger that we will face while using the Internet.
Moreover, the Internet makes the relationship among people sometimes turn out to be very
bad since fake news may spread easily. Overall, the good and bad things related to the
Internet are also related to trust especially in God.

Quran Surah Al-Hujurat verse 49:

“O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news ascertain the truth,
lest ye harm people unwittingly and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye
have done.”

Quran Surah Al-Asr verse 1-3:

“By time, indeed, mankind is in loss, Except for those who have believed and done
righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.”

Somehow, it makes us realize about the threats and dangers that we may face in
reality. These scenarios make us feel the existence of Allah swt at all time. For He is watching
us, listening to us, and knowing us, that make us submit to Allah swt in all our actions.
Connected to the Internet may provide chances for other people to know about our data. It
is to the extent that it can do harmful to our computer and our life. This is the difference
between Allah swt and the Internet. The feeling of the existence of Allah swt make us
becoming more and more pious to Allah swt. We may ask Allah swt to help us and we may
have revealed to Allah swt whatever good or bad matters we want to. Nevertheless, the
feeling of insecure when using the Internet makes us be more careful and worry about our
data. None can give us better protection except Allah swt.

Another common example involves chatting over WhatsApp or Instagram or similar

mobile applications. It is unethical to send long chat telling about petrol cut and at the end,
simply laughed at those who read. This is definitely against the Islamic law.

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 Surah Al-Asr guides us on how to use our time wisely for greatest rewards from Allah
swt. Long lying chat is not permitted for it is not the truth and a righteous deed.

SUMMARY
This chapter exposed us to privacy, security and ethics when using our computer. We learned
about how our privacy when using the Internet may reveal to other people. We normally
think that nobody knows about whatever we do with our computers. Next, the chapter
explained how to secure our data, hardware and software. Here, we know that password is
not that strongly secure our data and computer systems. There are more ways to secure data.
Lastly, this topic discussed on attitudes or behaviors that we should practice in
communicating and using the computer and the Internet. Islamic moral conduct is one
religious practice that help people to live in harmony and respect others’ works including
intellectual properties.

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GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
Access - The authorized person to use the information
Accuracy - The level of correctness in information records
Civil Strife - a situation of disorder society or disorder governments that may involve riots,
sabotage, demonstrations made by certain groups to bring up certain rights and issues in a
country.
Computer criminals - People who have unauthorized access to our computer system.
Copyright - The right of a person’s Intellectual property that covers patents, trademarks,
industrial designs, writings, recordings, drawings, geographical indications and layout designs.
Cracker - People who gain unauthorized access to our computer system for bad intentions
such as gain profits and crack a system.
Cyberbullying - A new form bullying in this digital era by using computers, tablets and/or
smartphones to humiliate and insult people.
Data Manipulation - The ability to alter data in applications and databases for some targets
either for profit gain or for fun.
Denial of Service Attack - An attempt to prevent legal access to the Internet by making lots
of traffic congestions in computer network
Dictionary attack - Software for guessing a password in a computer or a file.
Digital Piracy - Activities to download digital content such as software, music, movies, e-
books, games to use, to distribute, to share with others people or to sell with low prices.
Drones - Small flying machines with cameras to take pictures, to record panoramas, to
monitor activities on certain areas and then send the data to the cloud
Electronic profiles - Personal information on individuals in computers’ memory
Employee monitoring software - A kind of software that allows employers to observe, record,
and review an employee’s use of computer
First-party cookies - Cookies that provide information to a single site.
Google’s Street View - A web application to view and explore places around the world
Hacker - People who gain unauthorized access to our computer system, either for fun or for
vulnerable checking.
Illusion of anonymity - An assumption that people are safe with his/her computer and no one
know about his/her computer assessing activities.
Information brokers - People whose business is buying and selling online information
Internet Scam / Phishing - Something good offered to trick people into spending money or
information.

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Keystroke logger/ keylogger - System monitor that keep track of what user keyed-in not only
on computers’ keyboards, but also on smartphones.
Large databases - Collection of huge amount of information
Malicious software - Small programs installed in our computer or our mobile devices without
us knowing about them to crash or control our devices or to keep track our internet activity.
Mistaken identity - The incorrect records of data make someone identity resembles someone
else identity.
Natural hazards - Threats due to extreme climate or events such as earthquakes, flood,
thunder and lightning, or fire.
Online Identity - The information that people voluntarily post about themselves online.
Organized crime group - A group of people who have trainings to get certain valuable
information from computer systems for illegal profit gain.
Plagiarism - Any act of copying someone’s ideas or writings or works and considered them as
our work without giving any credit to the owner.
Privacy - The right of individuals and companies to deny or restrict the collection and the use
of information about them.
Property - The ownership of the information
Snoopware - A monitoring software in mobile applications to observe, record and review a
user’s mobile device.
Spam - The unsolicited mail that is being sent to many recipient and newsgroups at once.
Standard moral conduct - A guide for a computer user to communicate that may
affect his and other people life.
Third-party cookies - Cookies that record your activities across different sites.
Trojans or Trojan horses - A type of malwares, which often seem as legal software loaded and
executed on computer system.
Viruses - Small programs deposited to infect files either to slow down the processing or to
alter the system functionalities of our devices.
Worms - Small programs entered our computer to get our computer and other connected
computers stuck and gradually stop working.
Zombie - A computer controlled by rogue hackers to perform denial of service (DOS) attacks
and to spread email spam and malware.

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PRACTICES
Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Malware stands for malicious software. They can secretly enter a computer system once
you are connected to the Internet. Their purposes are as follow EXCEPT
A. crash the computer system
B. threat the computer user
C. control the computer devices
D. monitor the computer activities

2. The most dangerous malware is

A. worm
B. virus
C. trojans
D. zombies

3. Which of the following is NOT the technique used in biometric authentication?

A. Voice, hand and face recognition
B. Retinal scan
C. Finger print scan
D. Hair analysis

4. Adam lost his wallet that contains enough information about him for a person who found
it to open a credit account under his name. The above situation is
A. scam
B. fraud
C. forgery
D. identity theft.

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5. Which of the following is NOT a recommended on-line activity?
A. Phishing
B. Blogging
C. Shopping
D. Webcasting

6. Which of the following is the activity that find entry into someone else computer network
and change the data or leave some strange messages?
A. Hacker
B. Cracker
C. Data manipulation
D. Denial of service attack

7. Which of the following is NOT a security measure to protect computer security?

A. Coding all messages sent over a network.
B. Anticipating disaster by having disaster-recovering plan.
C. Restricting access by allowing authorized personnel only.
D. Preventing data loss by copying and storing them at locked place.

8. Which of the following is an ethical conduct while using computer in the lab?
A. downloading movie and songs
B. sharing copyrighted software
C. install open source application
D. viral sensational issues of a friend

9. This type of cookie usually generated when you visit a website. The website uses the
generated cookie to record information about your current activity on the website. This
cookie is
A. first-party cookie
B. second-party cookie
C. third-party cookie
D. tracking cookie

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10. Which of the following is an ethical conduct while using computer in the lab?
A. downloading movie and songs
B. sharing copyrighted software
C. install open source application
D. viral sensational issues of a friend

Short Answer Questions

1. People always think they really have their privacy in accessing their computers. Actually,
they do not have total privacy. This is called ____________________________________.

2. Unwanted emails coming from unknown people or organizations are called __________.

3. This software does not harm the computer directly. But it is a carrier of other malware.
The software refers to _______________________________.

4. A way for an employer to get to know about the workers’ activities during office working
hours is by using a software called ___________________________________ software.

5. Not all cybercrimes can be solved with the Computer Crime Act in Malaysia. Some
cybercrimes can be addressed by Malaysia civil law called_______________________.

Discussions

1. As a company owner, you really would like to increase the company’s productivity at all
time. You need to make sure about the safety of all company’s asset such as computer
data and hardware. You also emphasize on integrity. You need to decide for the total
security of your company. Discuss on safety actions.

2. A woman found dead in her house after her neighbor called the police. The neighbor saw
the house gate, the car door, and the front door of her house widely open since late
afternoon. After an investigation, the police found out that the woman was a heavy
Facebook user. Her last update in her Facebook about her driving home. The police took
this matter into investigations. Discuss about Facebook issue in privacy and security.

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3. Biometric scanning is one of popular ways to restrict access to a computer system. People
start to use their fingerprints or voice to activate their computer. Discuss about the
advantages and the disadvantages of biometric scanning. Is it safe? State your reasons for
your answer.

4. When our private data, information, and photographs exposed to public without our
consent, legally, what can we do? Discuss to solve the issue.

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