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Computer Security and its Challenges
Computer Security means protecting your data and information from harm, theft, attackers, and unauthorized access. Let’s consider one simple example of why security is necessary.
Today, children play online games by downloading them from Play Store and Chrome or using other sites. They don’t have proper knowledge about the third-party sites or malware functions attached to them. They download those games and applications on their computer, play games, and do other stuff. After some time they came to find out that some files on their computer were missing and the system was not working.
Or Considering examples when some unprotected sites want your credentials to enter to visit the contents of the websites. They use bugs and attack our information. Those attackers try to manipulate or misuse our data for their purpose.
That’s why computers need to be secured and protected to help with those challenges.
Lets now proper definition of Computer Security and its components −
What Is Computer Security?
A computer is the protection of computer systems, information, network, hardware, and software from malicious acts that may result in unauthorized access, theft, data loss, cybercrime, etc.
Today, technology has picked up at a rapid pace and is changing our lives early. We are becoming productive in managing and developing new systems that can help in a better future. But as the network is growing and becoming more complex, it is also becoming hard to maintain such complex data security. Computers are connected to a network almost all day, so the data stored in the computer must be protected and not accessible to unauthorized people.
Let's now look at what are types of Security available to us −
Types of Computer Security −
Information Security
CyberSecurity
Network Security
Application Security
Information Security − As the name suggests, protecting our data and information stored in our computer system is termed Information Security. It has three objectives which are Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.
Cyber Security − Cyber security is protecting our devices such as computers, mobile, programs, and systems from cyber attacks that happen when any of these devices are connected to the Internet.
Network Security − It means securing our information and system that is connected through the network. Data that is transferred in packets gets stolen or manipulated from their path by the middle attackers which they can use for their mean purpose.
Application Security − Keeping data, information, and the overall system private and protected from theft, data loss, and hacking. The data in the computer system can be stolen if no security is provided to the system which can damage our system and destroy the information.
Challenges of Computer Security
To protect lots of information present in all types of security we can imagine what type of advanced technology and program is required to protect this data over the network system. It is not an easy task to complete and as it has a complex structure of development of resources, the overall system of security is a real deal. Let's look at them in points −
Security is not an easy task as it needs lots of research and money
All the potential attacks on the computer need to be considered
Security needs to be upgraded with the changing technology and attackers' style of hacking and theft also changes with technology.
It requires constant monitoring as we are unaware of where any attack can come from.
It is necessary to decide where the security system will be placed at the different levels of the security mechanism.
Security needs to be processed and managed by the designer and developer in both physical and virtual layers.
Types of Attacks
Attacks have many types and they can happen at various levels of the Computer System −
Phishing Attack
IoT Attack
Machine and AI Attack
Blockchain Attack
Ransomware Attack
All those attacks can happen at various levels of computer and networking mechanisms. These can steal the data in the cloud, and get access to security, manipulation, and data loss in AI attacks which can harm certain big sectors such as government, organizations, private institutions, etc.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed what is computer Security, its components, types of attacks, and challenges that are faced by computer systems and networking. Computer security is an integral part that helps us to build the network safe and secure to use. Security starts with us, first, we need to be careful about the data that we are going to give to any site or use any application with care. Security is a challenge but it helps in data security and privacy.
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