L18: SECURITY MEASURES

Security measures mean the precautionary measures taken toward possible danger or damage. There are 6 type of security measures.

1) DATA BACKUP
Data Backup is a program of file duplication. Backups of data applications are necessary so that they can be recovered in case of an emergency.

2) CRYPTOGRAPHY
Cryptography is a process of hiding information by altering the actual information into different representation, for example, an APA can be written as I? X.

Almost all cryptosystems depend on a key such as a password like the numbers or a phrase that can be used to encrypt or decrypt a message.

The traditional type of cryptosystem used on a computer network is called a symmetric secret key system.

3) ANTIVIRUS
An antivirus program protects a computer against viruses by identifying and removing any computer viruses found in the computer memory, on storage media or incoming e-mail files. An antivirus program scans for programs that attempt to modify the boot program, the operating system and other programs that normally are read from but not modified.

IDENTIFYING VIRUS
Two technique are used to identify the virus.

If an antivirus program identifies an infected file, it attempts to remove its virus, worm or Trojan horse. If the antivirus program cannot remove the infection, it often quarantines the infected file. Quarantine is a separate area of a hard disk that holds the infected file until the infection can be removed. This step ensures other files will not become infected. Patents for inventions Utility, design or plant patents that protect inventions and improvements to existing inventions

4) ANTI-SPYWARE
Spyware is a program placed on a computer without the user’s knowledge. It secretly collects information about the user.

The spyware program communicates information to the outside source.

An anti-spyware application program sometime called tracking software or a spybot is used to remove spyware.

Among of the popular anti-spyware programs are:
• Spybot Search and Destroy
• Ad-aware
• Spyware Blaster

5) FIREWALL
Firewall is a piece of hardware or software which functions in a networked environment to prevent some communications forbidden by the security policy.

Firewall implement a security policy. It might permit limited access from in or outside the network perimeters or from certain user or for certain activities.



6) HUMAN ASPECTS OF SECURITY MEASURES
Human aspects refer to the user and also the intruder of a computer system.
It is one of the hardest aspects to give protection to.

The most common problem is the lack of achieving a good information security procedure