What is security?

 What is security? 

 

 

 

Computer security is the act of protecting the validity, integrity and confidentiality of data on a computer system. Computer security is essential to a business especially if they hold confidential information that could breach GDPR regulations if leaked. Similarly, a business could lose data from an attack, making them lose business and money. 

Data could be altered, stolen or destroyed by a hacker. Each method has its own disadvantages to the business. This is why it is important to protect their data stores and network from attacks. 

Types of attacks 

• Denial of service – Overloading network infrastructure with illegitimate packets so that the device blocks legitimate packets from entering. 
• Man in the middle – Intercepting network traffic to read their contents. 
• Phishing – Social engineering technique where a hacker tries to convince an employee that they are legitimate. 
• Password attack – Cracking a password to an account to view data inside. 
• SQL injection – Injecting illegitimate SQL queries into entry forms on websites to execute code remotely. 
• Cross site script – Injecting malicious code into a website so that it runs. 

 

CIA 

CIA stands for confidentiality, integrity and authenticity. It is a key model for a security system on a business’ network. 

PKI 

PKI stands for public key infrastructure. It is the concept of issuing digital certificates to identify users and protect data. The NCSC explains PKI as: 

“A private PKI can act as a trust service for many different technologies or systems. Examples include providing identity and trust services in VPNs, internal web applications, IoT, and end user device authentication.” 

Ethical hacking and Penetration testing 

Ethical hacking is the process of legally hacking a business to find vulnerabilities which could be exploited by malicious hackers. Both the business and hacker must agree to the correct documents which stops the ethical hacker from being persecuted against the computer misuse act. A penetration test is the test the hacker performs to find vulnerabilities and report them to the network administrator.