Network Protection

Network Protection

1. Data Encryption

   • Uses special software to scramble (encode) data with a key before it is sent/transmitted.
   • Makes the data unreadable to meaningless if intercepted.
   • Data is unscrambled (decoded) at the other end with the use of the encryption key.

2. Usernames & Passwords

   • Users on a network are allocated a unique user ID and a password
   • users are required to change passwords regularly by the network to enhance security
   • During log on the system checks the username and password against the database of user details
   • Network software can disable the username for a period of time after unsuccessful log-on attempts.

3. Access Levels

   • users are allocated different levels of access to files
   • access rights can be classified as "read only", "read and copy" or "read and write"
   • access rights are stored in a table linked to the username and password

4. Backup

   • if data is lost or corrupted, the network should have a method of recovering the data.
   • a file backup ensures that a COPY of the data is available if the original data is lost or corrupted
   • Network backups are usually automatically scheduled to run at certain times, e.g. at the end of each day

5. Firewall

   • firewalls use security settings to block data that does not comply with the organisation's rules
   • firewalls monitor and filter data entering or leaving a network