BASIC CONCEPTS IN COMPUTER
SECURITY
ARZATH AREEFF
WHAT IS COMPUTER SECURITY ?
• Computer security is refers to techniques for ensuring that
data stored in a computer cannot be read or compromised
by any individuals without authorization.
• Most computer security measures involve data encryption
and passwords.
• The purpose of computer security is to device ways to
prevent the weaknesses from being exploited.
WHAT IS COMPUTER SECURITY ?
• We are addressing three important aspects of any
computer-related system such as confidentiality, integrity,
and availability.
WHAT IS COMPUTER SECURITY ?
• These are the three goals in
computing Security.
1. Confidentiality
2. Integrity
3. Availability
THREE GOALS IN COMPUTING SECURITY
• Confidentiality: ensures that computer-related assets are
accessed only by authorized parties. Confidentiality is
sometimes called secrecy or privacy.
• Integrity: it means that assets can be modified only by
authorized parties or only in authorized ways.
• Availability: it means that assets are accessible to
authorized parties at appropriate times.
THREE GOALS IN COMPUTING SECURITY
• One of the challenges in building a secure system is
finding the right balance among the goals, which often
conflict.
VULNERABILITY
• Vulnerability is a weakness in the security system.
• Weaknesses can appear in any element of a computer,
both in the hardware, operating system, and the
software.
The types of vulnerabilities we might find as they apply to
the assets of hardware, software, and data.
• These three assets and the connections among them are all
potential security weak points.
HARDWARE VULNERABILITY
• Hardware is more visible than software, largely because it
is composed of physical objects.
• it is rather simple to attack by adding devices, changing
them, removing them, intercepting the traffic to them, or
flooding them with traffic until they can no longer function.
HARDWARE VULNERABILITY
• other ways that computer hardware can be attacked
physically.
• Computers have been drenched with water, burned, frozen,
gassed, and electrocuted with power surges.
SOFTWARE VULNERABILITIES
• Software can be replaced, changed, or destroyed
maliciously, or it can be modified, deleted, or misplaced
accidentally. Whether intentional or not, these attacks
exploit the software’s vulnerabilities.
SOFTWARE VULNERABILITIES
• Sometimes, the attacks are obvious, as when the software
no longer runs. More subtle are attacks in which the
software has been altered but seems to run normally.
DATA VULNERABILITY
• a data attack is a more widespread and serious problem
than either a hardware or software attack.
• data items have greater public value than hardware and
software because more people know how to use or
interpret data.
THREATS
• A threat to a computing system is a set of circumstances
that has the potential to cause loss or harm.
• There are many threats to a computer system, including
human-initiated and computer-initiated ones.
• A threat is blocked by control of a vulnerability.
• We can view any threat as being one of four kinds such as
interception, interruption, modification, and fabrication.
THREATS
• An interception means that some
unauthorized party has gained
access to an asset. The outside
party can be a person, a program,
or a computing system.
THREATS
• In an interruption is an asset of the system becomes lost,
unavailable, or unusable.
THREATS
• If an unauthorized party not only accesses but tampers
with an asset, is called as a modification.
THREATS
• An unauthorized party might create a fabrication of
counterfeit objects on a computing system.
• The intruder may insert spurious transactions to a network
communication system or add records to an existing
database.
ATTACKS
• A human who exploits a vulnerability perpetrates an
attack on the system. An attack can also be launched by
another system, as when one
• system sends an overwhelming set of messages to another,
virtually shutting down the second system's ability to
function.
ATTACKS
• Unfortunately, we have seen this type of attack frequently,
as denial-of-service attacks flood servers with more
messages than they can handle.
CONTROL
• The control is an action, device, procedure or technique
that removes or reduces a vulnerability.
• We use a control as a protective measure.
• There are so many ways to controle.
HOW TO SECURE THE COMPUTER
• There are two ways
1. Physical secure
2. Other secure methods
PHYSICALLY SECURE COMPUTERS
• Obtain physical computer
locks for all your computers
PHYSICALLY SECURE COMPUTERS
• Attach mobile proximity
alarms to your
computers.
PHYSICALLY SECURE COMPUTERS
• Store computers in an area
with secure access.
• Or place the computers in a
locked room
PHYSICALLY SECURE COMPUTERS IN
YOUR COLLEGE
• Station security guards at
entry points to the college
building.
PHYSICALLY SECURE COMPUTERS IN
YOUR COLLEGE
• Verify windows and doors
are properly locked after
office hours.
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• Choose a good secured
operating system
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• Choose a web browser based
on its security and vulnerabilities
because most malware will come
through via your web browser
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• When setting up, use strong
passwords in your user account,
router account etc. Hackers may
use dictionary attacks and brute
force attacks.
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• When downloading software
(including antivirus software), get
it from a trusted source
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• Install good antivirus software
because Antivirus software is
designed to deal with modern
malware including viruses,
Trojans, key loggers, rootkits, and
worms.
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• Download and install a
firewall
SECURE THE COMPUTER
• Close all ports. Hackers use
port scanning (Ubuntu Linux
has all ports closed by
default)
SOURCES AND CITATIONS
• Security in Computing, Fourth EditionBy Charles P. Pfleeger
• http://lifehacker.com/5848296/how-do-i-keep-my-computer-secure-at-the-office
• http://it.ojp.gov/documents/asp/disciplines/section1-2.htm
• http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/01/21/how-to-physically-secure-your-business-hardware/
• http://www.us-cert.gov/nav/nt01/
• http://blog.chromium.org/2008/10/new-approach-to-browser-security-google.html
• http://www.avast.com
• http://www.trendsecure.com
• http://www.lavasoft.com
• http://www.zonealarm.com
• http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
• http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack.html
• http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
• http://www.hackerhighschool.org/
• http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/library/article.jsp?aid=internet_iq
THANK YOU
HAVE A SECURED WORLD
