Computer Security and Its Impact on Daily Life

Computer security is a critical topic. Computer security promises to keep the data confidential, updated and available in an authorized way. It teaches us ways to manage the information or cybersecurity risks. These kinds of risks include hacking personal data, phishing, spoofing etc. and they lead to computer hardware failure. However, in order to overcome these threats we can use good, updated antivirus software and check hardware from time to time. This paper talks about what computer security really is and its impacts on daily life.    

Computer security is evolving as a stronger part of science and technology. The main objectives of computer security are confidentiality, availability and integration. Confidentiality deals with keeping information private and stops data from being used without authorization. Availability is the provision of the service to authorize user without blocking. Finally, integration means to keep the system updated in authorized manner. Computer security plays a great role in the computer industry. One might always think that computer security is all about protecting one’s computer from viruses or malware software. However, this is only a tiny part that falls under computer security. Generally, computer security is defined as the protection, and preservation of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information (​Dimitriadis, 2011)​. In simple words, computer security is the protection of computer hardware and software from being maliciously used by unauthorized users.    

The major motive of computer security is to protect information, a whole computer machine, computer systems etc. Even though the term computer security can be interchanged with different names like cyber security, information security, all these kinds of security have the same objectives. To make it more clear, information security is securing information from being used, modified, or deleted by unauthorized users. Cybersecurity is all about protecting computer systems which get attacked by harmful computer networking viruses.    

Our computer systems are infested with many bugs. Even when we think that our computer machine works perfectly fine, there are many persistent threats, malware software, viruses etc. which are lined up to invade our computers and through that our personal life. In this day and age, we live most of our lives on our computers. From shopping to filing our taxes, we surrender our most sensitive information to our personal devices. For example, the personal credit/debit card information we add in online shopping apps is one of the most common dangers which has generated a huge risk to information security. Likewise, photos and personal statuses that we upload on various social medias are also some flaming issues. There are times when you think that your information is all safe and sound, but there are some unauthorized users who can get inside your computer system to access, modify, delete, or copy all your personal information and data. This process is called hacking and the attackers who do it are called hackers. Another most unusual kind of information security risk is phishing and URL spoofing. Phishing is a technique to obtain private information by sending an email to user which appears to come from legitimate user or organization, and URL spoofing means creating a real website to obtain personal information and data. The word spoofing itself means a type of scam where criminals pretend to be genuine businesses or some innocent party just to obtain somebody’s personal information.   

Just like software, hardware also have many similar potential risks and threats. Hardware are the physical parts of computer systems which you can touch and see with your naked eyes. The term hardware security is not that famous in the computer science world, but it is one of the most important topics. Unlike computer software security, hardware security needs manual work and more time to handle hardware security risks. As an example, microchips are known to the only device made under strict rules and guidelines. However, the country which used to manufacture and distribute microchips globally have introduced counterfeit microchips. Counterfeit microchips are not made under strict guidelines, therefore leading to underperformance of computer hardware. These kinds of microchips introduced unauthorized production and cloning, hardware trojans etc. (Burns, 2019). However, technology has become so powerful that there are always some solutions to all these above-mentioned issues.    

Computer security can be costly but so are our machines. Securing computers and their data is not easy. In fact, it takes a lot of time, resources, money and patience. That is why we need to be always careful in choosing the right defense mechanism for our computer security threats. Since we use internet/computer networks in our day to day life, the first defense is by using computer firewall. Computer firewalls can be defined as the network security device which regulates all the incoming and outgoing traffic based on the set of security rules and guidelines (Agrawal, 2019). Firewalls act as a wall between the safe internal networks and outside unauthorized networks. In simple words, firewalls reject the untrusted networks and block them from entering the safe networks. There are different types of firewalls, but there are two most common kinds of firewalls. First kinds are packet filters — these run on router which examines the source address and destination address and blocks some packets from uncertain addresses. The second kinds are application-level firewalls —  these examine the content of the internet traffic and addresses. Likewise, some other ways to avoid the computer security threats are by using the correct type of anti-malware software. For example, Webroot, Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee etc. and some built-in anti-virus software like windows defender in Windows 10. These kinds of antivirus software will prevent from hacking, identity thefts, networking parasites, getting tricked by deceitful emails and URLs.    

In contrast, hardware tend to fail or get damaged less in comparison to software. However, hardware need equal amount of care and protection. Viruses which multiplies the unnecessary files and folders are likely to overfill the disk space which ultimately make the hard disk crash. Therefore, we need to update our antiviruses often. Moreover, when our computer machines age, they get more slower and slower due to often heating and cooling of electronic boards. Thus, we need to check on the hardware components from time to time.    

As we all know computer security has become a broad topic and it signifies the way our machines work and prevents them from being cruelly used. In this burgeoning era of computer networks, there are higher chances of computer security threats. However, if we have a solid foundation and a good computer security practice then we can protect our computer against any kind of software or hardware security threats. 

References 

• Dimitriadis, C. K. (2011). Information Security From a Business Perspective: A Lottery Sector Case Study . Retrieved November 18, 2019, from https://www.isaca.org/Journal/archives/2011/Volume-1/Pages/Information-Security-From-a-Busi ness-Perspective-A-Lottery-Sector-Case-Study.aspx​.
• Computer Security Industry. (2010). US Black Engineer and Information Technology, 34(3), 54-54. Retrieved from ​www.jstor.org/stable/43690085 Kagan, Julia. “Spoofing.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 18 Apr. 2019, www.investopedia.com/terms/s/spoofing.asp​.
• Burns, K. (2019). Can microchips be trusted? Retrieved November 17, 2019, from https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/magazine/winter-2015/can-microchips-be-trusted.html​.
• Agrawal, A. (2019, August 12). Introduction of Firewall in Computer Network. Retrieved November 17, 2019, from https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-of-firewall-in-computer-network/​.
• Cheswick, W., Bellovin, S., Ford, W., & Gosling, J. (1998). How Computer Security Works. Scientific American, 279(4), 106-109. Retrieved from ​www.jstor.org/stable/26057989​. https://www.isaca.org/Journal/archives/2011/Volume-1/Pages/Information-Security-From-a-Business-Perspective-A-Lottery-Sector-Case-Study.aspx
• https://www.isaca.org/Journal/archives/2011/Volume-1/Pages/Information-Security-From-a-Business-Perspective-A-Lottery-Sector-Case-Study.aspx
• http://www.jstor.org/stable/43690085
• http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/spoofing.asp
• https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/magazine/winter-2015/can-microchips-be-trusted.html
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-of-firewall-in-computer-network/
• http://www.jstor.org/stable/26057989