COMPUTER SECURITY?

Sunday, October 26, 2008

As computers become more and more integrated into our
lives, we end up leaving a lot of sensitive information on
our PCs—from passwords, e-mail IDs (even official e-mail
IDs) and bank accounts to personal diaries and notes, business
plans (or worse still, tender bids), confidential documents, a log
of surfing habits (which can be viewed out of context), a backup
of phone SMSes, and much more.
Then there is another risk, especially when you are online—
viruses and spyware. Though viruses and spyware are talked
about in the same breath, there is one fundamental difference:
a virus is written to cause damage to your operating system, pro-
grams or files, usually with no direct benefit to the virus cre-
ator. Spyware, on the other hand, is written for gain. This could
be by tracking the surfing habits of a user on an infected com-
puter and sending this information to someone who would send
the user advertisements supposedly targeted at him based on
his surfing habits.
Very strictly speaking, spyware is not intended to cause dam-
age, at least in the traditional sense, but more often than not,
they end up doing so on your PC, which is rendered difficult to
repair. You can find more details on viruses and spyware in the
third and fourth chapter of this book.
When we speak of computer security, what we mean is the
ways in which you can prevent people from accessing data on
your computer, keep your computer safe from viruses and spy-
ware, and protect yourself from hacking and phishing.
Let us take a brief look at the ways in which your security
could be compromised. You will find more details on each of
these in the respective chapters.