What is Computer Security?

Computers have become a necessity for businesses and organizations. With a multitude of communication going to and from the business network, business data gets exposed to outside world.

Protecting the computers and the data in it is an increasingly important consideration. Hackers are prying over the business network to conduct fraudulent activities gain access and steal sensitive information associated with businesses. With the threat landscape elevating to the next level, individuals and organizations are liable to protect their computers to stay away from such attacks with efficient computer security.

What is Computer Security?

Practicing good computer ethics is a prime key to keep your computer safe and have a good user experience as well.

Computer security involves the protection of software, data, and hardware and other components associated with the computer from threats or damage. There are methods, software, and techniques involved to enable system security, safeguard computing resources, enable data integrity, restrict access to authorized users, and retain data confidentiality. Antivirus, Firewall, and Internet security software are some of the efficient security systems available to entitle users with computer security.

How Does Computer Security Work?

From passwords to file encryption, computer security plays a vital role.

Set Strong Passwords – Its the first line of defence

Users are to be wary of threats and should start implementing the use of strong passwords as weak passwords would allow hackers to guess them easily and gain access to private user credentials and use them to get monetary benefits. Here is how cybersecurity knowledge plays the main role in protecting passwords.

• Never document passwords in text files or spreadsheets
• Avoid saving passwords in the browser
• Avoid using personal information like spouse name, date of birth, child’s name
• Use of complex passwords with a combination of letters (lower-case and upper-case)
• Use unique-passwords and do not use the same password for different accounts
• Deploy Two-factor authentication

Backing up data

The second most important key to cyber-security is backing up of data. This is done by saving a copy of your existing data on an external hard-disk so that if your device is stolen or compromised, your backup data would be a savior.

Protecting Wireless Network

All the wireless network associated with businesses and individuals should be protected with a strong password. This prevents hackers from accessing or hijacking the wireless business network. Make sure that the wireless network is encrypted.

What do Computer Security Specialists do?

Computer security managers are accountable for securing the computing resources and data of the company on a consistent basis. A security analyst should restrict access to specific users to gain confidential information.

Planning Security

Security experts analyze and plan the computer protection measures to protect the vital components of the IT infrastructure to counter the possible vulnerabilities and threats.

Securing the Infrastructure

The critical role of any security specialist is to secure the infrastructure of the corporate network. Even the most sought-after software can have the possibilities of retaining overlooked vulnerabilities that are detected only when there is an audit.

The security specialist is responsible to install a firewall to filter out the possible threats and an antivirus to scan, detect and remove any malware infection from the system.

Monitoring the Infrastructure

The prime role of any security specialist is to monitor the corporate IT infrastructure. They are accountable to have a check on what goes in and comes out of the network. They deploy automated security systems to monitor the activities of the system connected to the network.

A key component of infrastructure security is the monitoring infrastructure. Security analysts place to network and computer monitors at strategic points on the network and on critical servers. These monitors typically communicate with a central server, reporting all activity for later analysis. Security analysts use automated tools to scan the logs produced by the monitors and look for aberrations in the activity.

Some unknown facts about computer security

Companies are not really aware of the modes of attacks

With technology, attackers have evolved over the years to deploy sophisticated methods and impose attacks on their target networks. Companies are much confident about their progress in IT security, however, in reality, they are not aware of how they are being attacked.

2017 has seen the worst types of attacks of all times – Wanna cry and Petya Ransomware exposed confidential data through data breaches. Considering the same, organizations are at high risks all the time. The risks and threats are always accumulated and created so staying updated and having the correct forms of security measures and consistently monitoring on the new forms of threats would benefit companies to know where they are in terms of security.

Every company is hacked

When we hear about a company’s breach, our instant reflux would make us think that the company does not practice proper computer security. However, every company is at high risk and are likely to be attacked anytime.

Penetration testers experience ethical hacking to be very simple and they easily outplay the existing security system of a computer network. Hence it is a verdict that all the computers are not secured.