Internet and Web Application Security, 3rd Edition

Data and Information

It’s common to hear the terms data and information used interchangeably as if they are one and the same. They’re technically not the same. Data and information are different, and they represent completely separate places in the cycle of what we know as data processing. However, before we get too much into the processing of data, let’s take a look at data and what they are.

Data

Whether you pronounce it as “dayta” or “datta,” without data, there would be no data processing, no internet, no information systems, and no web. Data are the fuel and the reason for computing, networking, automation, and all other digital processing. Without data, computers wouldn’t exist because there’d be no reason for them to exist. If there ...