Essentials of a Network: Network Security

To know the origins of network security it is essential to know about data transmission in a network. In any network there are some controls of how data is transmitted across the network. The transmission originates from one computer and has to be delivered to the other computer. Identifying the correct computer and delivering the data is done through a mechanism called protocols. TCP/IP is designed together to work for the internet and there is an entire IP suite of various other protocols used by various computers over the network to communicate with each other. TCP was first designed only for communication purposes and security was not incorporated into it.

IP is a network layer protocol designed to allow two hosts to find each other and communicate with each other. IP is a very flexible feature which has made it popular to many machines. But the present need for computer network security is because IP lacks proper security mechanism.

Necessities of Network Security

There are many instances of network security attacks on defense and other government organizations. This is due to the rise in many hacking tools and thefts of information by novices and criminals bent on making a profit at your expense. Knowledge of some hacking thefts may help you know if your network is secure and if you need to secure your network

Protect your business critical data. Banks and financial companies that use online transaction means require this protection. Credit card frauds and other financial frauds have been reported and the means of obtaining such sensitive data has been through hacking using exploits and weakness in IP protocol, application software or operating systems.

Another major necessity for security is the growing number of malicious code “in the wild”. The consequences of a server or any system being shut down or loss of data is detrimental to any organization. Worms have installed Trojans and have caused many servers and computers to become slaves in a botnet. Malicious code needs to be stopped and not all firewalls or antivirus are effective in this area.

Awareness of network security is also a necessity. Emails spoofing, attachments, phisihing are all social engineering techniques and not truly machine or program oriented flaws.

Continue to : Network Security and your PC

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