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Informative Articles

All about the new SCMAD Certification Exam
Introduction The mobile market is envisioned as the next technological wave by leading industry experts. With approximately 150 million mobile phones – roughly 3 times the user base as that of desktop computers – it might well be...

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Cleaning Your Computer Will Help It Last Longer And Work Better
To clean your mouse – The trackball can pick up dirt and dust from your desk and mouse pad. Also, the wheels that the trackball come in contact with get dirty and need to be cleaned. If you notice your mouse "doesn't work right", it may be time...

Have You Invited A Spy Into Your Computer?
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How To Keep Your Computer Virus Free
Computer viruses can and do strike at any moment. They assault your computer by destroying data,and rendering your system useless.The very first line of defense is to boost your knowledge of these well hidden malicious codes. Malicious codes come...

One click from answer ?
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Password Policy
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Refurbished Computers on the Internet
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Spyware Statistics -- What's New in May 2005?
The results of Spy Audit survey made by ISP Earthlink and Webroot Software are still fresh in memory of IT security experts. The study lasted for the whole last year; more than 4.6 million system scans were made in 2004. On May 3, 2005 the Webroot's...

The Trials and Tribulations Of Learning A New Computer Skill
It all started several years ago when I walked out on a well-paid job of 11 years. I needed to get another job fairly quickly. My monthly mortgage repayments were pretty hefty. Something I hadn't thought about during my dramatic exit. I eagerly...

 
 
 
Computer Security - What Exactly Is It?

Although the term 'computer security' is used a lot, the content of a computer is actually vulnerable to only a few risks unless the computer is connected to others on a network. As the use of computer networks (especially the Internet) has increased dramatically during the past few years, the term computer security is now used to describe issues referring to the networked use of computers and their resources.

The major technical areas of computer security are confidentiality, integrity and authentication/availability.
- Confidentiality, also known as secrecy or privacy, means that the information you own cannot be accessed by unauthorized parties. Breaches of confidentiality range from the embarrassing to the disastrous.
- Integrity means that your information is protected against unauthorized changes that are undetectable to authorized users. The integrity of databases and other resources are usually compromised through hacking.
- Authentication means that an user is who he claims to be.
- Availability means that the resources are accessible by authorized parties. Examples of availability attacks are the 'denial of service' attacks.

Other important things that the computer security professionals are concerned about are access control and nonrepudiation. Access control refer not only to the fact that users can only access the resources and services they are entitled to, but also to

 


the fact that they can't be denied to access the resources they legitimately expect. Nonrepudiation means that a person who sends a message cannot deny he sent it and vice versa.

In addition to these technical aspects, the concept of computer security is very large. Computer security's roots are drawn from disciplines like ethics and risk analysis and the major topics that are concerning it are computer crime (tries to prevent, detect and remedy attacks) and identity/anonymity in cyberspace.

Although confidentiality, integrity and authenticity are the most important things when it comes to computer security in general, for everyday internet users, privacy is the most important one, because many people think that they have nothing to hide or the information they give doesn't seem sensitive when they register with an internet service/site.

But remember that, on the internet, information is very easily shared among companies and small pieces of related information from different sources can be linked together to form something alot more complex about a person. Because of this, nowadays, the ability to maintain control over what information is collected about them, who may use it and how it can be used is extremely important.

About the Author

For information and resources on network, computer security, hackers, vulnerabilities, patches, advisories, and more visit http://www.itfreaks.com