A Computer Network Security System Should Prevent And Detect Intruders
If you work on a computer network at your job, you will have some idea of what computer security is. Computer network security systems provide the computer security that spans a network of connected computers and is a process of prevention and detection of unauthorized use. Through use of preventive measures the computer network security system will not allow any unauthorized user, sometimes called an intruder, from gaining access to any part of the computer network.
On the other hand, the detection system within a computer network security system will help find out if somebody has tried to make unauthorized entry into the network and in case they succeeded, what were the consequences and what actions did they perform.
Since computer networks are used for many activities that range from banking to investing to shopping as well as communicating among groups and individuals there arises a need to keep the computer network free of attack such as sending forged emails as well as examining personal information and a whole lot of other malicious and unwarranted activities.
Hackers, attackers, crackers or intruders as they are called, are people who do not care about niceties of the law and are constantly devising ways and means to hack into computer networks to gain control of computers to launch attacks on the entire network. Gaining control of a computer on the network allows them to launch attacks, while at the same time concealing their true location. The intruder is constantly discovering holes to exploit computer software and so a computer network security system is essentially needed to not only ward off attacks, but also to pre-empt them.
Firewalls are extensively used in computer network security systems as preventive measures that are designed to enforce an access control policy between computers on a network. The network firewall is a dedicated device that can protect one or more computers. In addition, the computer network security system should have proper and updated anti-virus software installed on the computers across the network.
To Prevent Attacks, Disconnect the Computer When Not in Use
Once the computer is not being used it should be switched off or its Ethernet interface should be disconnected because then the intruder cannot attack the computer. One may also take the precautionary step of disabling Java, JavaScript and ActiveX, if possible. All important data should be regularly backed up on auxiliary storage devices so that there is no permanent loss of important and vital information were the network to be attacked.