Chapter 12
Minimum Security Facilities
In This Chapter
Identifying the most serious threats to your computer and intranet
Sampling some basic security terminology
Protecting your network with firewalls, anti-malware, and encryption
Being connected to a network, especially to the Internet, comes with some security risks. Is it worth it? For most people and organizations, the answer is yes, but a few important precautions are usually necessary.
This chapter lists the nastiest muggings that can happen to your computer and a few basic security practices you can use to protect your computer and your intranet. The information in this chapter introduces the basic security vocabulary and techniques to prepare you for the application chapters that follow. Chapters 20 and 21 delve into network security in much more depth.
What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
The frequency of break-ins and hacks on the Internet grows nearly as fast as the Internet itself. If that leaves you hungry for some data safety, this chapter is the first course of your security dinner. Some of the security attacks to worry about on your own computer and intranet include
Theft: Scoundrels break onto networks or into hosts to steal computing resources and/or information.
Spoofing: E-thieves without network permissions pretend to be other people who have the necessary credentials, often by sending fake e-mail, using someone else’s access rights, or getting a host to assume the identity of another host so users access ...
