The threats to computers and communications systems
Security issues relating to computers and communications Computers and Privacy Users of information technology must weights standards of behaviors and conduct in several areas. One important area relates to ethics and personal privacy. Information about people that is stored in databases must be protected from misuses, and electronic spying must be controlled.
Some of the computer related privacy issues involve the use of
Electronic networks Enactment of rules and laws Databases
Database This invasion of privacy raises three issues: How do you feel about personal information being spread without your consent? How do you feel about the spread of inaccurate information? How do you feel about anonymous individuals and large companies profiting from the personal activities that make up your life?
Electronic networks Many people believed that , a nation linked by electronic mail , there has to be fundamental protection against other people reading or censoring messages or talking action because of their consent. Intellectual Property Rights Information technology has presented legislators and lawyers with some new ethical matters regarding to intellectual property. Intellectual property consists of the products of the human mind, tangible or intangible. There are three methods of protecting intellectual property.
They are:
Patents
Trade secrets
Copyrights
1.Copyrights
A copyrights is a body of law that prohibits copying of intellectual property without permission of the copyright holder. The law protects books, articles, music, art, drawings, movies, and other expressions of ideas. It also protects computer software. The copyright protects the expression of an idea but not the idea itself. Copyright protection is automatic and lasts a minimum of 50 years. Three copyright-related matters deserve our attention:
Software and network piracy
Plagiarism
Ownership of images and sounds
2.Truth in art and journalism
Ethics also concerns the matter of altering sound and visual originals without making it clear that this has been done. The ability to manipulate digitized images and sounds has been brought a new cool to art but a big new problem to journalism. To evaluate what were seeing or hearing is the truth or not? We will consider the following: Manipulate of sound
Manipulate of photos
Manipulate of video
3.The threats to computers and communications systems
Information technology can be disabled by a number of occurrences. It may be harmed by people, procedural, and software errors; by electromechanical problems and by dirty data. It may be harmed by natural hazards and by civil strife and terrorism. Here we will highlight the following threats to computers and communications systems: Errors and accidents
Natural and other hazards
Crimes against information technology
Crimes using information technology
Viruses
Errors and accidents In general, errors and accidents in computer systems may be classified as : People errors Procedural errors Software errors Electromechanical errors
Dirty data problems
Natural and other hazards Some disasters can wreck the entire system. Examples are: Natural hazards Civil strife and terrorism Crimes against information technology
Theft of hardware
Theft of software
Theft of information
Crimes of malice and destruction
Theft of time and services
Computer Criminals
Employees
Outside users
Hackers
Crackers
Professional criminals Identification and access
The systems try to authenticate your identity by determining What you have cards, keys, signatures, badges: Credit cards, debit cards, and cash-machine cards all have magnetic strips or built-in computer chips that identify you to the machine.
What you know PINs, passwords, and digital signatures. A PIN or personal identification number, is the security number known only to you that is required to access the system. Credit cards use a PIN.
A password is a special word, code, or symbol that is required to access a computer system.
Who you are physical traits: Some forms of identification cant be easily faked such as your physical traits.
Encryption Encryption, or encrypting is the altering of data so that it is not usable unless the changes are undone .In other words, the data is transformed so as to be unreadable to anyone without a secret decryption key, usually mathematical algorithm. Encryption is clearly useful for some organizations, especially those concerned with trade secrets, military matters, and other sensitive data.
Protection of software and data
Organizations go to tremendous lengths to protect their programs and data. Other security procedures include the following:
Control of access: Access to online files is restricted only to those who have a legitimate right to access.
Audit controls: Many networks have audit controls, which track which programs and servers were used, which files opened, and so on.
People controls: Because people are the greatest threat to a computer system, security precautions begin with screening of job applicants. That is, resumes are checked to see if people did what they said they did.