Protect your information with Network Security
By definition Network Security are a set of policies adopted by the network administrator to protect the network and the network- accessible resources from unauthorized access. This would mean provisions made in an underlying computer network infrastructure, both public and private. As more people access the internet and increase the transactions and communications with businesses and agencies the need for network security has increased. Most employees can access their work remotely over private communication networks from their homes or hotel rooms even, or on the go through normal telephone lines or mobile phones.
A typical network consist of client terminals, and one or more servers and or host computers. These are linked by communication systems which may be within the company or open to public access, like the internet.
Network Security is about protecting all the valuable assets that belong to the company to maintain the intellectual property of the company and ensure smooth operation. Therefore there is the need for a sound network security strategy which will uncover threats and then find ways to combat them.
The different network security threats are:
Trojan Horse Programs:
These are destructive programs posing as benign applications. Although they do not have the capability of replicating themselves they can be as destructive as any virus. One of the most treacherous Trojan horse is a program that is supposed to rid a computer of the virus, but does the exact opposite – introduces viruses into the computer.
Viruses:
These are the everyday threats that plague our computers and have the capability to replicate and act when triggered by normal computer operations –such as opening a file.
Data interception:
This would involve prying or spying on information and communication that is being shared on a secure network, or even altering the data packets that are being transmitted.
Attacks:
Information gathered by various means that is later used to collect data that aids in compromising networks. This takes advantage of the network vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to private information.
Unauthorized Access:
This could refer to a variety of high-level attacks and the main aim of these attacks is to gain access to information that your system is meant to protect. They gain access to e-mail, corporate networks and databases, sometimes resulting in denial –of –service attacks which prevents access to part or all of the computer system.
Social Engineering:
Getting information that you are not meant to have, by posing as a technical person and obtaining confidential information such as passwords etc. These are breaches in confidentiality and sometimes the perpetrators of such crimes are only doing it for a thrill but there are times when an unscrupulous competitor may hire such a person to gain unfair advantage.
There are two kinds of destructive behaviour: Data Diddling and Data Destruction:
The data diddler is one who makes sure that the fact of a break-in is not known to us immediately. He could be changing data on your spread sheets, or changing dates etc on your plans. In these cases we would not become aware of something going wrong until sufficient damage is done. Your data in these cases can never be trusted again and this leads to tremendous difficulties.
Data Destruction is where data is simply deleted –which results in complete loss of data as in a fire where your computer is destroyed.
