Network Security

Network Security

Network security consists of the policies and practices adopted to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources.

Network security includes activities to protect the usability, reliability, integrity and safety of the network. Effective network security targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on the network. Network security components include: a) Anti-virus and anti-spyware, b) Firewall, to block unauthorized access to your network, c)Intrusion prevention systems (IPS), to identify fast-spreading threats, such as zero-day or zero-hour attacks, and d) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), to provide secure remote access.

Helpful terms

Anti-spyware software- designed to detect and remove unwanted spyware programs. Spyware is a type of malware that is installed on a computer without the user's knowledge in order to collect information.

Anti-virus software - utility that detects, prevents, and removes viruses, worms, and other malware from a computer.

(IDS)Intrusion Detection System - Software that detects an attack on a network or computer system.

(IPS) Intrusion prevention system - a system that monitors a network for malicious activities such as security threats or policy violations.

Penetration test - pen test is an authorized simulated attack on a computer system, performed to evaluate the security of the system.

(VPN) Virtual private network - is a private network that is built over a public infrastructure.

The role of network security is to protect the organization’s IT infrastructure from all types of cyber threats including:

Viruses, worms and Trojan horses
Zero-day attacks
Hacker attacks
Denial of service attacks
Spyware and adware

A network malfunction, hacker or virus can cause your entire computer system to shut down and can even permanently destroy all the information on the system.

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