Scope And Importance Of Computer Security

Computer security is a very important area of information technology. This branch encompasses technological practices and principles that prevent breach of computer security. The scope and reach of computer security is immense in terms of its applications. It is a cross-disciplinary area of study, which borrows from a number of diverse fields such as security engineering, risk analysis, mathematics and access management.

Traditionally computer security implied security in terms of either isolated or networked computers and resources. Access control and management, a feature built into modern operating systems, is a layer that implements not only the prevention of unauthorized access to computer systems, but also the preservation of integrity of the information in a computer.

With the explosive growth of the internet, the scope of computer security has expanded and recognizes new and growing threats such as denial of service (DOS) attacks, computer viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, malware and spam to mention a few.

The average computer user today faces a number of threats while browsing over the internet. There are various dimensions to these threats. First, it is necessary to protect your computer against unauthorized online access.

Malware applications and programs may communicate information to and from your computer, without your knowledge. There are however a number of applications on your computer which legitimately need to access resources on the internet. Firewall software is necessary to shield your computer from unauthorized access.

Firewall software forms a layer between your computer and online traffic. It filters both incoming and outgoing online traffic. It prevents unauthorized access to computer ports and allows applications access to the internet. Application access is granted based upon a set of rules that the firewall application continuously updates. Applications are allowed either limited or full access by firewall software.

An example of firewall software is McAfee Firewall. It is actually a software suite that also has antivirus and antispyware capabilities.

Another serious dimension is the threat that children face when they are online. Children are after all curious by nature, and they always do not know what is good for them. Children may become the victim of online prowlers. They may visit objectionable websites or carry out activities that are not suitable for them.

Parental control software is another essential layer that allows the parent to monitor and control the child's online activities. This type of software has powerful features with which a parent can limit the time and the periods that children can access the internet. They can use keywords to block objectionable content relating to weapons, pornography, racist remarks or anything else that does not suit common sensibilities. SafePC Content filtering and control is an example of parental control software.

Spam another internet threat is assuming alarming proportions. Some estimates state that Spam or unsolicited email constitutes 40-50% of online email traffic. Web based email services usually have content filtering which detects and blocks suspected spam.

In spite of that, the individual user needs to have a means of protection installed locally on the personal computer. Spam blockers are software which have inbuilt capabilities to block spam.

A very good example of spam blocker software is McAfee spamkiller.

As responsible computer users, we must attempt to implement computer security on our computers to the maximum extent possible.