DF3: Lesson 5: Designing a Secure System Architecture

Could your system catch a breach before it causes damage?

Build strategic thinking through real-world cyber defence. This KS3 / lower secondary computing lesson challenges students to become cybersecurity advisors by designing smart surveillance strategies across a simulated workplace.

Students explore how app and network monitoring systems work in professional environments, then use that knowledge to build a zone-by-zone defence strategy. They write smart “If…, then…” monitoring rules, assign each one to the correct defence stage (Prevention, Detection, or Response), and justify their overall approach through structured reasoning.

The lesson ends with a reflective task on collaboration and system fairness - preparing students for secure system planning in the next lesson.

Through this, students uncover:

• How role-based access protects data by restricting user permissions
• Why multi-factor authentication adds a critical layer of login security
• What an audit trail records - and how it helps trace what went wrong
• How a system’s trigger conditions can spot suspicious behaviour
• What makes a good fallback mechanism for secure recovery

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