Week 13: Clear

This week's lesson was fairly simple but very crucial when it comes to computer safety. I learned that there are a plethora of ways that one's computer can suffer security risks; this is any action that can cause loss of data, and damage to your computer's software, hardware, or processing ability. However, there are also certain measures one can take to decrease the likelihood of their computer being attacked. Unauthorized access and use of a computer or network without permission is one way you can be affected. To prevent this, you can disable file and printer sharing on the network, use a firewall and protect your username and password. Moreover, creating a strong password is key when it comes to keeping information safe--the more characters you have in a password, the harder it will be for a hacker to figure out that password. Information theft, the stealing of personal or confidential information, is another security risk. Some components to information theft include phishing (often sent as an email that looks official but then asks users to verify personal information), spoofing (altering the header of an email to make it appear as if it is coming from someone else, and pharming (installing malicious code on a computer to redirect users to fake websites). Prevition can be accomplished by way of encryption, digital signatures, and authentication controls.

One of the most apparent securtiy risks are Internet and Network attacks. Information traveling over networks is at a higher risk than local information because there are more ways to intercept the information. Viruses are programs that alter the computer by damaging files and system software. It requires human action to spread--ex. through e-mail. Worms are programs that copy itself and take up resources on your computer. It does not require human action to spread. A Trojan Horse is something that looks like something else. It is software that hides behind something that may seem harmless. They do not spread to other computers like that of worms and viruses. In order to limit the risks involved with these types of attacks, you can use a firewall, anit-virus and make sure it is always up-to-date, being care of email attachments, and watching the news in order to be informed about when there are new cases of attacks.