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Year 11
AQA

Data and privacy

I can explain how data privacy is maintained in databases and identify regulations that protect personal information.

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New
New
Year 11
AQA

Data and privacy

I can explain how data privacy is maintained in databases and identify regulations that protect personal information.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Databases are designed to store large volumes of data.
  2. This data could hold sensitive and personal information about individuals.
  3. There are a number of methods that can be used to protect data held in databases.
  4. These methods include user access controls, data encryption, regular audits and data anonymisation.
  5. Regulations are laws that tell organisations how they must handle personal data to keep it safe and private.

Keywords

  • Anonymisation - the process of removing or changing personal information in a dataset so that individuals can no longer be identified

  • Privacy - the right to keep your personal life private

Common misconception

Once data is stored in a database, it’s automatically safe and private.

Just storing data in a database does not make it secure. Data must be protected with proper privacy measures.


To help you plan your year 11 computer science lesson on: Data and privacy, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Task B asks pupils to focus on one piece of legislation. It may beneficial for pupils to share their answers with the wider class so the class collectively covers multiple pieces of legislation.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the main purpose of a database?
Correct answer: to store large amounts of data
to print documents
to design web pages
to play music
Q2.
Which of these is an example of personal information?
the weather forecast
the capital of France
Correct answer: a person’s address
the number of days in a week
Q3.
What is the main reason personal data needs to be protected?
Correct answer: to keep people’s information safe
to make it easier to share
to save money
to make databases faster
Q4.
Which UK law helps protect personal data?
Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act
Correct answer: The Data Protection Act
Health and Safety at Work Act
The Education Act
Q5.
What is the term for software that is owned by a company or person and cannot be changed or shared without permission?
Correct Answer: proprietary
Q6.
Put these steps in order for creating a new database and protecting the data:
1 - decide what data will be stored
2 - create the database structure
3 - set strong access permissions
4 - add data to the database
5 - regularly back up the database

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the main reason databases need privacy measures?
to make them run faster
to use more storage
to print reports
Correct answer: to keep sensitive information safe
Q2.
Which of these is a method to protect data in a database?
Correct answer: user access controls
deleting all records
printing the database
sharing passwords
Q3.
What is the process called that scrambles data so only authorised users can read it?
Correct Answer: encryption
Q4.
What is the process called that removes or changes personal details in data so individuals cannot be identified?
Correct Answer: anonymisation
Q5.
Match each law or act to its correct description:
Correct Answer:Data Protection Act 2018,sets rules for handling personal data

sets rules for handling personal data

Correct Answer:Article 8 of the Human Rights Act,right to respect for private life

right to respect for private life

Correct Answer:Investigatory Powers Act 2016,allows access to communications data

allows access to communications data

Q6.
Which statement about storing data in a database is correct?
Data is always safe once stored in a database.
Databases protect data without any extra measures.
Correct answer: Data must be protected with privacy measures, not just stored.
All databases automatically keep data private.