A Quick Introduction to Network Security Measures

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:11:15 +0000

The computer network is perhaps the most important system that is running within your company. Your network powers almost everything that the computers do – from daily essential tasks like email to surfing on the Internet, sharing documents, sharing printers, etc. So if your network happens to be down, the entire organization is greatly inconvenienced. Lots of man hours would be wasted. And if the network is down repeatedly, productivity will decline.

There are many reasons that may cause a network to be down. We are talking about network security issues here. Minor network security breaches involve attack on the personal workstation. For example, a workstation may be infested with viruses or spyware. Viruses and spyware are types are software that operate mostly in the background. They are usually installed on the computers without the permission of the user and perform malicious operations such as hijacking browsers or wiping out hard disk drive data.

More serious network security breaches involve real time attack on the servers. As the servers power many important functions of the network (e.g. sending or receiving email, or storing confidential company data), the consequences are disastrous if servers have been compromised. The general term for server attacks is known as “intrusion”.

Earlier, we have briefly discussed how a personal workstation can be compromised by viruses or spyware. This is also a form of intrusion on the personal computer. This form of intrusion is usually passive. In other words, it may involve some action from the user in order for the software to be installed. For instance, the user may be browsing malicious websites, or an individual may have installed a virus accidentally, thinking that it was an innocent game.

Another form of active, which is an active form of attack, involves sending packets of data to a server until the server slows down to a crawl, thus rendering it useless. This is also known as denial of service (DDOS) attacks. The servers won’t be able to process requests sent to them until these malicious packets of data are somehow blocked. Otherwise, the whole network continues to be malfunctioning.

These are all various ways that a network can be compromised. From innocent little games to aggressive data packet attacks. Fortunately, there are network security solutions available that will help safeguard the network.

There are many different levels of network security. For security engineers, the challenge is always to decide on adequate protection without inconveniencing the users. Users may be inconvenienced when security hardware or software starts to interfere with other applications. For instance, the newly installed Firewall may be preventing some software from accessing the Internet.

A comprehensive network security program involves hardware and software security, as well as a sound educational program for the users. Users must be trained so that they know what to do. A firewall can only be used to block so many websites. Ultimately, it’s up to the users to exercise discretion when surfing dubious websites.

Always consult network security professionals to explore various options before implementing a network security plan.

Here’s A Quick And Easy Ways To Solve Computer Problems

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:11:05 +0000

Computer system is prevalent everywhere and in every aspect of life. Today, every small and big scale industries have taken up to computer systems to manage, organize and flourish their work, with speed, reliability and consistency. Although we depend on computer systems to a large extent for solving our problems, still we do not pay much attention about the problems related to the computers. A computer problem, unless encountered by a user, he /she do not realize what effects it could have on their lives. Dealing with computer problems could be both time consuming and expensive, if not the mental agony of the user.

Various reasons can lead to a problem in computer systems. Computer problems can take place due to the faulty handling by the user or by some other unmanageable factors or a combination of the both. The malicious programs, more commonly known as viruses, spy-wares or malwares, which hinders the normal functioning of a computer, mainly gets into the system, through the internet or file sharing between different nodes. The other factors like heat or magnetism, static electricity shocks or power fluctuations, extreme accretion of dirt on the hardware or knocking or dropping the hard drive casing, incorrect or crashed software or an improper computer handling reasons to several computer problems.

When a PC system is encountered with a computer problem, its normal working is affected and its performance is compromised. The computer making quiet grumbling noises, the operating system taking too long to startup or shutdown, menus popping out, computer showing no signs of power at all, applications not working properly, frequent hanging of the system are some of the symptoms that signifies that the PC system is facing some computer problem. Computer problem could be either because of a fault with the hardware or a fault with the software.

There are some steps that can make sure that the computer system functions free of any error by fixing computer problems. The subsequent tips are a fundamental guideline that can be used to keep the PC maintained to run efficiently, increase component lifespan and also help in reducing the overall likelihood of PC problems. The number one reason for computer crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ).

A user should keep back up of all essential data. It is one of most crucial steps. It prevents the data from getting lost or corrupted, when the computer is in state of malfunctioning. These data can be later restored after fixing computer problems. A user should have an antivirus installed in the computer, which can fix computer problems like malicious threats and bugs. It is recommended that the installed antivirus should be updated. The registered software is usually less crashed, and a user should always use registered software, in order to run the computer smoothly. The various hardware components like Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, etc. should be kept clean. One should always keep the computer away from any magnetic fields. Thus when the computer is running out of problems one should get it fixed as quick as possible.

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A Quick Introduction to Network Security Measures

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