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Computer Security Definition Computer Security is “branch of technology known as information security as applied to computers”. The objective of computer security defers from one system to the next depending on what it is used for and who uses it. Firewalls A firewall is “a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria.” Firewalls inspect the traffic of data coming in and out of the computer, without proper configuration, firewalls can easily become obsolete, but knowing how to configure firewalls requires a serious understanding of the network applications and endpoints required for the organization's day-to-day operation. Backups Backups are copies of the computers data that are saved on an external storage device so that they can be restored if the original data is corrupted or lost. Since this data is actually worth backing up, the system goes through the trouble of altering it so that it can be easily accessed later on; these alterations include selection, extraction, and manipulations Anti-Virus Software Anti-virus softwares “are computer programs that attempt to identify, neutralize or eliminate malicious software.” The software is called “anti-virus” because the very early versions were supposed to deal with computer viruses; nowadays this it not true, anti-viruses today deal with a large range of malicious software such as including worms, phishing attacks, root kits, and Trojans. To identify suspicious software, anti-viruses have to search the contents of memory, the operating system, the registry, unexpected program behavior, and anywhere else relevant; usually, two approaches are taken (often together): 1- Examining the piece of data and comparing it to known viruses signatures stored in a virus dictionary. 2- Looking for any suspicious behavior from any computer program that might suggest infection. Encryption Encryption is information that has been written in a special code or language that is un-known to anyone who doesn’t have the code key; the data that is written this way is encrypted, and to figure out what it says is called decryption. Encryption is usually used for military reasons, but today it is used in a very wide array of fields, such as mobile telephones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices, bank automatic teller machines, and in digital rights management to prevent un-authorized use of copy-righted material and to prevent reverse engineering. Honey Combs Honey combs are basically pieces of software that are made to appear part of an important data structure but aren’t, they are used as traps for hackers and viruses and any other malicious software. Victim Hosts are computers that run special software, designed to appear to an intruder as being important and worth looking into, but in reality these are dummy programs; they help give early warnings to systems and help distract serious infections from really important info. My Questions: 1-what are back doors ? 2-why is an IP so important ? 3-how easy is it to hack a computer ? 4-what about account management ? 5- how secure can a computer get ? Urls: Robert C. Seaford: Secure Coding in C and C++ Peter G. Neumann: Principled Assuredly Trustworthy Composable Architectures E. Stewart Lee: Essays about Computer Security Clifford Stoll: Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage Bruce Schneider: Secrets & Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World
Summarized and quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_security Mohammed I. Janahi End.
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