Accidental threats to data

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A staff member emails a spreadsheet of client details to the wrong person by mistake. What type of threat is this?

A Deliberate threat

B Accidental threat

2. Which statement best defines an accidental threat to data?

A Harm to data caused by an attacker who plans to steal or damage it

B Harm to data caused by a mistake, with no intent to cause damage

3. An employee deletes a shared folder of sales records because they thought it was their own. This is an example of:

A Accidental deletion

B A ransomware attack

4. A teacher sets a folder of student results to 'Anyone with the link can view' by mistake. What is the problem?

A Misconfigured sharing exposed the data

B A hacker broke the encryption

5. A manager leaves an unencrypted work laptop on a train. Which sub-theme of accidental threats is this?

A A lost device

B A denial of service attack

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1accidental threat		AThis describes a deliberate threat. An accidental threat has no intent to cause damage and comes from a mistake, such as a staff member deleting files by accident.
2lost device		BAn accidental threat where a laptop or USB drive holding data is misplaced, risking exposure
3A staff member sends a file with customer details to the wrong person by choosing the wrong address in the To field		Cemailing the wrong person
4A staff member shares a folder as 'Anyone with the link can view' when it should only be shared with the finance team		Dmisconfigured sharing
5Accidental threat = a hacker deliberately deletes files to damage the business		EAntivirus software targets malware, not human mistakes. Accidental threats are reduced by staff training, procedures, access controls and backups.
6Accidental threats can be fully removed by buying antivirus software		FHarm to data caused by a mistake, with no intent to cause damage

Definitions

accidental threat

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

An __________ threat has no intent to harm

Emailing the _____ person is a mistake

Accidental deletion is fixed by a ______

Wrong sharing settings make a file ______

Losing a laptop is a risk with no ______

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A intended ← 'sam@firm.com'

B typed ← 'sam@fim.com'

C IF typed ≠ intended THEN send

D ELSE warn user

Question 2

A confirm ← 'yes'

B IF confirm = 'yes' THEN

C DELETE file

D ELSE keep file

Question 3

A folder ← 'HR payroll'

B sharing ← 'public'

C SAVE settings

Question 4

A laptop.encrypted ← TRUE

B laptop.remoteWipe ← TRUE

C IF found THEN remote wipe

Question 5

A msg ← 'Marks for Ali'

B email.to ← 'year9@mail.com'

C email.body ← msg

D send email

Answer Key

Accidental threats to data

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Accidental threat

B — Harm to data caused by a mistake, with no intent to cause damage

A — Accidental deletion

A — Misconfigured sharing exposed the data

A — A lost device

Section B: Match the Pairs

accidental threat → Harm to data caused by a mistake, with no intent to cause damage

lost device → An accidental threat where a laptop or USB drive holding data is misplaced, risking exposure

A staff member sends a file with customer details to the wrong person by choosing the wrong address in the To field → emailing the wrong person

A staff member shares a folder as 'Anyone with the link can view' when it should only be shared with the finance team → misconfigured sharing

Accidental threat = a hacker deliberately deletes files to damage the business → This describes a deliberate threat. An accidental threat has no intent to cause damage and comes from a mistake, such as a staff member deleting files by accident.

Accidental threats can be fully removed by buying antivirus software → Antivirus software targets malware, not human mistakes. Accidental threats are reduced by staff training, procedures, access controls and backups.

Section C: Definitions

accidental threat — Harm to data caused by a mistake with no intent to cause damage, such as emailing the wrong person, deleting files by accident, misconfiguring sharing or losing a device.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

An accidental threat has no intent to harm

Emailing the wrong person is a mistake

Accidental deletion is fixed by a backup

Wrong sharing settings make a file public

Losing a laptop is a risk with no intent

Section E: Spot the Error

C — The check is reversed. The email would send when the typed address does NOT match the intended one, which is how an email gets sent to the wrong person by mistake. It should be IF typed = intended THEN send.

A — Setting confirm to 'yes' skips the question, so the file is always deleted. That makes accidental deletion easy. It should be confirm ← ask('Delete file?') so the user must confirm.

B — A confidential payroll folder is set to public by mistake (a misconfigured sharing setting). Anyone could see it. It should be sharing ← 'restricted'.

C — The condition is wrong. The remote wipe should run when the device is lost, not when it is found. It should be IF lost THEN remote wipe.

B — The private marks for one student are addressed to a whole year group, so the data goes to the wrong people by mistake. It should be addressed to the intended recipient: email.to ← 'ali.dad@mail.com'.