|
![[Computer Security]](SECURE5.gif)
The protection of computer from tampering, physical danger and unwanted disclosure of data. The advent of personal computers has made it easy for important business records or confidential data to be lost, sabotaged, or misused. Computers need protection from the following kinds of hazards:1. Machine failure: Make backups of important files frequently. Every disk drive in the world will one day fail, losing all data. 2. Physical hazards: Protect the computer from fire, flood, and similar hazards, and store backups at a remote location. Remember, too, that the machine can be stolen. An increasing number of computer thieves are after data, not just equipment. When travelling with a laptop computer, never let it out of your possession. Many thefts occur at airport check-in counters: while you are preoccupied making your arrangement, someone can quietly steal the laptop computer you placed on the floor. Keep the computer in your hand. Stay close to the computer as it goes through the airport security check. Always bring your laptop on board as carry-on luggage. Checked baggage is treated far too roughly. 3. Operator error: It is easy to delete information accidentally. This hazard can be minimised with software that retains original files while altered copies are being made. 4. Computer tampering: Can someone come and alter your records without your knowing it? Bear in mind that large numbers of people know how to use popular business software packages. If possible, use software that keeps records of changes- recording who made them and when any requires validation (such as passwords) to make unusual changes. 5. Malicious Programming: Some computer crimes have been perpetrated by programmers who did such things as collect all the money that was lost by rounding interest payments to the nearest penny. A clever bookkeeping system run by a dishonest programmer can easily conceal abuse. More recently, some people have gotten their kicks by distributing destructive computer programs over the Internet. 6. Break-ins by modem or network: Make sure you know all the possibilities for connecting to your computer from elsewhere, and that you've blocked all access that you do not want to allow. The UNIX operating system, designed originally for use in laboratories where no security was needed, is generally thought to be particularly vulnerable. 7. Easily guessed passwords. A computer password must never be a person's initials, nickname, child's name, birth date, etc., nor should it be a correctly spelled word in any language. A common way to crack accounts is to try all the words in a large dictionary, as well as all names and abbreviations that are associated with a person. Also, if a user signs onto a computer and then leaves terminal unattended, others can tamper with it without typing the password. 8. Insufficient protection from executable code included in web pages: Since this code is executed when the browser connects to that page, the user may not have any warning that a potentially destructive action is occurring. Normally, web browsers impose heavy security restrictions so that code of this type cannot, for example, erase a user's hard disk or find and transmit the user's private files. These restrictions are stricter for Java applets than for ActiveX controls; also, some browsers fail to implement them properly, creating a security hazard that can be exploited by malicious web page implementers. 9. Excessive security measures: Excessive attempts to build security into a computer so hard to use that productivity is crippled. In the final analysis, all computer security depends on human trustworthiness. Concentrate on securing the people, not the machine. That is, ensure that employees are trustworthy and that strangers have no access to the machine, then give authorised users all the access they need to do their jobs effectively. |