lement their logon interfaces.System security is the amount of protection against unforeseen events, which might cause the system to fail. The amount of security in a given system depends upon the value of the information contained within the system. As the information becomes more valuable, the amount of money spent on protecting the information also increases. An example of this would be someone keeping their valuables in a home fire safe whereas a bank might keep their valuables in a time-controlled vault. Data security is the protection of data through emergency recovery plans and the controlling of end user privileges. Operating systems such as Novel NetWare and Unix allow for the controlling of individual users access to files and directories. By allowing only authorized users access to sensitive files, the system can be more fully protected against malicious use of the data or from errors caused from incompetence. In controlling the users on a system care should be taken in the assignment of passwords. Passwords should contain letters and at least one number or special character. If at all possible, passwords shouldn’t be names or standard dictionary words. Passwords aren’t effective if they can be guessed in any small amount of time. Lastly if there is any doubt on the security a password offers, change it often. This technique makes it much harder for an unauthorized user to gain access more than once. A system should also be protected from out-side sources that necessarily are not directly related to the users of the system. Protection from outside attacks is increasingly more important in our electronic commerce community. Any data transfer, which takes place outside of a corporate network, is free game for whoever wants to try and read it. Encryption is the answer that has been developed to protect information from eyes that were never meant to see it. Codes and ciphers have been around for hundreds of years. Th...
