Data Security

GOOD DAY, students. This is lesson 19 in our series of lessons. In this week’s lesson, we will be looking at data security. At the end of this lesson, you should be able to distinguish between the terms ‘data security’ and ‘data integrity’, and you should be able to explain at least two measures that can be used to secure data.

DATA SECURITY

Computer security refers to the protection of hardware and software resources against their accidental or deliberate damage, theft or corruption (in the case of software). Data security is the protection of data against intentional or accidental damage.

Data integrity refers to the accuracy and consistency of data stored in a database.

HARDWARE AND DATA SECURITY

The following methods can be employed to secure data/information.

Password – A password is a combination of characters used to prevent unauthorised computer access. A person wishing to secure a computer or individual files on the computer can set a password. In order for access to be granted, the correct password must be entered.

ENCRYPTION

Encryption is the process of encoding information so that it bears no similarity to the original in order to secure it. Files are encrypted using a key provided by the person who wants to encrypt the information. This key is a combination of characters that is used to tell an encoding algorithm how to encrypt the information. The encoding algorithm uses a kind of mathematical formula in the conversion process. In order to read encrypted information, it must first be decrypted. This is the process of decoding encrypted information in order to obtain the original information.

PHYSICAL ACCESS RESTRICTION

Physical access restrictions are used to prevent unauthorised persons from gaining physical access to stored information. The information may be found on a computer or on a removable storage or in manual files. Two methods of physical access restriction are:

Housing the computer or the removable storage in a room or building. This area would be secured using locks and a combination of surveillance cameras, alarms, biometric systems, swipe cards and security guards.

Locking manual files or removable storage in a cabinet.

SOFTWARE ACCESS RESTRICTION

This is quite simply the process of restricting access to software. This may be done using passwords or encryption. However, there is another method that is fairly popular. Chances are that you have installed recent commercial software and you have been prompted to enter a serial number (installation key) before the actual installation starts. This is done in an attempt to reduce software piracy.

VIRUS AND VIRUS PROTECTION

A virus is a malicious program that is designed to corrupt the files on a person’s computer and/or prevent the computer from working properly. Viruses may cause damage to programs and data. People create viruses for vandalism, revenge or mischief. Computers may be protected from viruses by:

1. Avoiding using computers, hard disks, flash drives, etc., that are suspected of having a virus.

2. Using up-to-date antivirus software.

3. Avoid opening emails from individuals who are not from your contact list.

EMAIL VIRUSES

An increasing number of viruses are being spread by the attachments to email messages. When you open the attachment, your computer becomes infected. Some of these viruses can even take advantage of the capabilities of email and send themselves to everyone in an email address book.

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

An antivirus program (or virus - guard) is a special type of software that tries to detect and remove viruses that are on a computer or removable storage media. Many antivirus programs allow you to download new virus definitions (information about how to recognise particular viruses). Advance antivirus programs, such as Norton Antivirus, also try to detect viruses for which there are not yet virus definitions by observing programs for suspicious virus-like activity.

FIREPROOF CABINETS

Despite having several security methods to secure data, there is none that can truly protect data from natural disasters or fire. Nonetheless, there is a very simple (although low-tech) way to protect manual files and those on removable storage from fire. A fireproof cabinet is one such mechanism. A fireproof cabinet is a cabinet that is designed to withstand the high temperatures of fire.

FIREWALLS

Any file on a network is vulnerable to hackers. However, there are ways to protect computers that are on a network from hackers. A firewall (in computer terms) is a program that identifies certain weaknesses in networked computers and tries to prevent them from being exploited. This makes it much more difficult (but not impossible) for hackers to gain unauthorised access to the computer. Therefore, firewalls help to keep the data on these computers secure. They are usually installed on computers that access the Internet.

COMPUTER HACKERS

A hacker is a person who tries to gain access to areas on networks that he/she is not supposed to have access to. Hackers may try to:

Pretend to be someone who has legitimate access to certain areas or files.

Use extreme attacks (trying thousands of passwords until the right one is found).

Find weaknesses in the network (known as backdoors) and try to exploit them.

Corrupt or delete the files being shared.

BACKUP AND RECOVERY

Sometimes instead of securing data from people who have malicious intent, we have to protect it from our negligence or the fact that we take for granted that once we save something on a storage medium, we do not need to save it elsewhere. This is what backup and recovery is for. Backing up data is the process of making a copy of the data and storing it on another storage medium. The storage media most commonly used for this process are: CD –RW, magnetic tape and external hard drives. If the original data is lost, misplaced or destroyed, it can be recovered by copying the backup on to the computer.

ARCHIVING

When data has remained unchanged for a long time and is not accessed on a regular basis, it said to be inactive. If the data is occupying valuable space (which is very likely), you might want to store it in a separate location instead. This is what is known as archiving the data.

DATA CORRUPTION

When something causes data to become lost or damage, this data is said to be corrupted. Data may be corrupted by: A computer virus.

Willful acts of employees. Computer malfunctions.

Poor method of updating data.

Ways of reducing the risk of data corruption:

Minimising the risk of computer malfunction by performing periodic computer maintenance and keeping the computer in a cool room, away from smoke and dust.

Installing up-to-date antivirus software.

Using surge protectors and uninterrupted power supply units.

We have come to the end of this lesson. Remember, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Natalee A. Johnson Urquhart teaches at Ardenne High School. Send comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@ gleanerjm.com.