Data Security

Data means information which is being processed by means of equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose, recorded with the intention that it should be processed by means of such equipment, recorded as part of a relevant filing system or with the intention that it should form part of a relevant filing system, forms part of an accessible record, or recorded information held by a public authority. 

Data Security means protecting a database from destructive forces and the unwanted actions of unauthorized users. It can also be defined as protective measures for digital privacy which are applied to prevent unauthorized access to computers, databases, websites and other confidential documents. It also protects data from corruption. In today’s world, security of data is the first priority for all organizations irrespective of size and genre. It is also known as information security (IS) or computer security. 

The focus behind data security is to ensure privacy while protecting personal or corporate data. Data can be considered as the information stored in form of rows and columns in database, network servers and personal computers. Data can include any damn thing from personal file to property papers, business secrets or market analysis. It could be anything of interest. Some of these are not intended to leave the system as it could lead to numerous problems for the organization. Having your bank account details stolen or system administrator with a lost database of client’s information are in the same condition. So, the database manager should determine different access privileges for different users. All users will be able to access only some part of the data and not the confidential one. Some users can only read the database while some who are qualified can also edit the database. The purpose of determining who has access, as well as the degree of access, is to protect the data from unauthorized use
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Security of data includes physical and technological security along with management and organizational security measures. For physical security, Data must be protected physically from harm or accident.  For technical security, one can use different hardware and software mechanisms or password protection schemes for security of data on a personal computer or organizations. Organizational security measures like limiting access, etc are also equally important in addition to physical and technological security.

There is huge emphasis on data security in the age of internet. If you don’t follow essential guidelines for security of data, sensitive data is at risk.

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Secure Delete

Secure Delete is a way to make sure that when you delete a file it cannot be recovered. Understanding it is important to protect sensitive data properly. Deleting a file in Windows doesn't actually delete the data. When you delete a file in Windows explorer, the file is just moved to recycle bin instead of permanent deletion. Hence your deleted files are saved in the recycle bin till the recycle bin is too full or you delete it yourself. Even after deleting the recycle bin there is no guarantee that the file is deleted forever. Instead, the computer just made the file invisible to the user, and marked the part of the disk drive that it is stored on as "empty," meaning that it can be overwritten with new data. The deleted file can be overwritten within weeks, months or years. It is like moving out of an apartment by only taking name off of the door. Until someone moves in and replaces their own, all your stuff is still inside and available to anyone who knows how to look for it. 

Here comes the concept of Secure Delete. Deleting the file securely will just overwrite the deleted file on the spot and is not visible to the observer. It’s like emptying your apartment completely before someone stays in it. If someone comes finding you in the apartment, he will not be able to know that earlier you stayed in it. Deleting securely takes more time than normal deletion but it assures that the content can’t be recovered. 

Just overwriting the file also doesn’t help because where the operating system writes the data is not under your control. Overwriting can be done by creating a new file on hard disk, delete the old file or rename the new file to old file. This process is not under user’s control.  This is completely in hands of the operating system. Hence if you are planning to store confidential and highly secret things on your computer, you need the utility that deletes the data securely. It guarantees that the space the original file occupied on the hard disk is overwritten with other data.

There is one more factor to take into consideration. Hard disks are made up of magnetic material. And due to the property of magnetic material it might be possible to recover the overwritten data. Recovering data in this way is trivial which requires special tools and techniques, lot of money but it can be done. The solution to this is to ensure that your Secure Delete utility allows overwriting data multiple times.

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Computer Security

Computer security is information security as applied to computers and networks. These cover all the processes and mechanisms by which computer-based equipment, information and services are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, change or destruction, unplanned events and natural disasters. You must run quality security software on your computers to protect your work and private data from viruses, spyware, and other security threats. Antivirus software helps protect your computer from malicious software and can be downloaded or installed inexpensively or at no charge. When it comes to security, there is no substitute for quality.

Here are some tips for Computer Security:

• Use antivirus software and keep it updated. Antivirus software is specially designed software used to protect your computer against viruses that are known. But with the existence of new virus every day, you need software update regularly. 
• Be suspicious about the unknown source from where unexpected e-mail and attachments arrived. When you receive this type of mail, the best thing you can do is to delete the mail completely with attachments or save the attachment in your computer and check the file for virus. 
• You need to protect your computer from the virus intruded by internet by using firewalls. Firewall is designed to create a wall between your computer and the outside world
• Download security updates regularly. Many companies nowadays release updates for their software to make the software better and bug free.
• You should use password for the security of your computer. Password should be tough to guess and a combination of uppercase, lowercase, symbols and minimum eight characters long. You should not share password with anyone, change it regularly and should be as meaningless as possible.
• You should have the backup of your computer data regularly on a CD or external memory. You can also store data of your computer on some other computer when you work on a network. It’s a good practice to have weekly backups.
• You should learn about risk involved in sharing files and hence don’t share access to your computer with strangers. Networks usually have ability to share files from your computer to another and this can make your computer virus infected.
• You should disconnect the internet when not in use. This lessens the chances of someone accessing your computer.
• Security of your computer should be checked on regular basis. The operating system on computer facilitates you with many features but leaves you vulnerable when there is loss of data due to virus or hackers. Security of your computer should be evaluated at least twice a year.
• You should train your family members and employees should know the treatment to virus infected computer. It's important that everyone who uses a computer be aware of proper security practices.

Thus, following these tips you can save your computer from infection of virus or other such problems. And as it is said that prevention is better than cure so you better work on computer security instead of panicking on the virus infection to your computer. 

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