Computer Management -Safe-Guarding Our Data.

IMPORTANCE OF DATA AND INFORMATION
Because the use of computer related technology has extended into almost every aspect of our lives and the critical role that data plays in both our lives and society as a whole, any threat to our data can have far-reaching and devastating effects.

Data and information is critical to the success and operation of an institution - be it a school, a bank or a government. One has to consider the overhead and costs of data loss in terms of:

• Having to work without the data
• Possibly having to re-input the data from hardcopy records.
• The loss of business confidence for client of the business or institution.

One of the characteristics of computers that make them so attractive is their accuracy. Their accuracy, however, is dependent on the quality and correctness of the data that has been supplied to them. Therefore when we consider the protection of data, not only must we consider protecting against loss of data but also at 'dafensive' measures we can take to protect the accuracy of our data.

Categories Of Threats To Data

Threats to data can take many forms and include the following categories :

• Unauthorised access to data
• Malware threat to network in particular
• Human issues
• Natural disasters
• Hardware and software issues

Unauthorised Access To Data

This can include users having physical access to computers that they should not have. However, the widespread use of networks means that we have to safeguard against users having 'electronic ' access to the data, irrespective of where they are physically located.

Malware Threats

Malware (malicious software) is a general term used to describe malicious software that is specifically designed to install itself without the user's knowledge to negatively affect or 'harm' a computer system.

A virus is a form of Malware designed to spread it self by making copies of itself and infecting files. Their aims vary but they often negatively impact on a computer's performance. They also used to exploit security loopholes in your software to allow other programs and users access to data on your computer.

A computer worm is a special type of computer virus that uses a weakness in an application or operating system to spread. It spread itself over a computer network but does not need any help from 'users' (transferring infected files/programs to other computer system. ) in other words it can 'reproduce ' itself within the network without having to attach itself to a host file. Worms pose a threat to data in that they can share your confidential files with others via e-mail.

Spyware is a form of Malware. It can cause relatively minor, annoying problems such as redirecting you to a website you don't intend to go to. More dangerous form of spyware such as keyloggers records your keystrokes as you type (and possibly even the movement of your mouse and screenshots of what is being displayed)  in an attempt to find out what your username and password are. It then report this to other parties to either use this information directly or use it to gain access to your data.

A Trojan horse or Trojan is a program disguised with useful or 'desirable ' features such as free games or disk utility. It can be used to control the computer system remotely as a 'bot' or to create a 'backdoor' to allow unauthorized access to data on the computer.

A rootkit is a collection of programs that are designed to infiltrate a computer and gain the highest privileges (administrator right)  to take control of the infected computer. This computer can than be used for all sort of dangerous purposes such as illegally accessing data files, creating backdoors for other malware by tampering with security software settings and even launching attacks on other computers and networks. This software is called kits as it is a collection of programs and can often be downloaded from the internet and adapted.

Human Issues

We can build the most sophisticated hardware and security system but a user (often unsuspectingly) can cause huge damage in terms of data loss. Here are some of the common problems in terms of 'human error' :

• Accidentally deleting files or formatting a disk
• Not ensuring that regular backups are made
• Entering incorrect data in a program
• Losing or misplacing portable storage devices
• Allowing other anauthorised users to get access to data by not following basic security principles such as having a secure password and changing it on a regular basis.

Social Engineering

The purpose of social engineering is usually to gain your confidence to manipulate or trick you into secretly installing malware (e.g. a Trojan) or into giving out passwords or other sensitive financial or personal information.

Social engineering relies on the natural helpfulness of people and on other willingness to trust others, especially those in 'authority'. Social engineering is a great threat to data as the people involved with social engineering get their 'victims' to willingly give out critical information, or to take actions that bypass the security system.

Let's look at two examples of this.

• Phishing

Phishing refers to 'fishing information' by fooling a user into giving out confidential data such as passwords and then using using these details to impersonate the person and commit identify theft. They most often come in the form of e-mails but can be made via a phone call or by malware directing to fraudulent sites.

They all rely on either scaring you into taking actions with urgent message like 'Your account has been activated - please login to verify your information immediately' or with the promise of reward ('Please collect your tax refund from SARS'). The message will appear to come from legitimate people or institutions such as your banks.

You are often encouraged to click on a link to log onto (what you think is) your bank's website. Meanwhile you are directed to a replica of the website which has the same appearance. In this way you give your confidential information 'in good faith'.

• Spoofing

This refers to a techniques used to make electronic communication (via cellphone or e-mail etc) seems to come from another person. Phishing websites are for example sometimes referred to as 'spoofed' websites. The user then interacts with the e-mail or website thinking that they are dealing with a legitimate entity or person.

Threat From Social Networking

Why are social networking sites so prone to social engineering attacks.

Millions of users visit thousands of social networking websites on a daily basis which potentially makes both them as users and their computers a vast 'target market'.
An 'artificial' level of trust that is developed as 'friends' on social networking sites can be used to influence the user to give out information that they should not.
Users often publish personal details such as their cellphone numbers or names of their pets, which they may have used as passwords!

Natural Disasters

When we think of natural disasters such as fire, floods and earthquakes, we naturally think of the loss of life and property. However, in such cases the loss of data can also be devastating. This is why backups need to be made on a regular basis (and kept off-site), but more about that later.

Hardware Issues

Users often tend to think, incorrectly, that hardware has an unlimited lifespan and will always function correctly. Sadly this is not the case!

• Hardware failure

storage device such as hard drives and even flash drives can fail. This can make it impossible to access the data stored on them - or (more difficult to detect) cause data to be corrupted

• Hardware theft

Computers (especially portable computers) and portable storage devices such as external hard drives and flash disks (which can increasingly store greater volumes of data) can be misplaced or stolen. It is often a lot easier to simply steal the hardware than to try and 'hack the system' to access and steal the data. It is not just the cost of replacing the hardware that needs to be considered, but the loss of potentially critical, confidential data as well.

• Power problem

Power outage or power dips and spikes can also result in loss of data. This can be as results of

1. Data in ram (volatile memory) not being saved to storage
2. Data being corrupted while it is being written back to storage
3. damage caused to the hardware, especially with spikes in the electricity supply.

Software Issues

The first categories that most people probably think of in terms of threat of our data are hardware, malware, 'hacking'. Software can, however, also pose a significant threat as well.

• Software bugs

Even the best designed and tested software can still has logical errors or 'bugs' that can cause incorrect output or results in invalid data being stored and used. Decision based on incorrect data might be made with potential disastrous consequences - think of what might happen if a learner is incorrect 'failed' at the end of the year, or missile system incorrectly identifies one of its 'own' aircraft as an 'enemy aircraft'!

Software can also crash or freeze, resulting in data not being saved.

• GIGO

The quality of the results a computer output is often summarised by the GIGO principle. GIGO stands for 'Garbage in, Garbage Out'. This means that if incorrect or 'nonsensical' data has been input, then the computer will not sort it out - the answers or results produced will also be a 'mess'.