Although this question relates more to the administrators of networks that contain a number of computers; the subject matter should be of some interest to just about every computer user or owner – possibly including those whose computer usage is only on devices such as smart phones. We tend to think of networks as something that businesses use to connect up the individual computers used by the employees and, traditionally, the connections by were by wired cables. However, with the establishment of the internet and wireless connections, there were a lot of changes to this concept.
What Is A Network?
The internet is only working for you if your computer is in contact with other computers around the world and “signals” are being passed between them all (obviously without wires) – in other words, when you sit in a coffee shop and surf the net, you have joined a network. Businesses that used to wire up all their computers now find it more convenient to use wireless signals to allow all the devices on their private network to interconnect and also gain access to the public internet network.
Why Do People Attack Networks?
One way or another, our society has not removed ill intentions from everybody’s minds so there are still people who get a thrill out of causing malicious damage to others – by spreading viruses, etc around computer networks. Even worse, are those who see computers as a means of obtaining money or goods by fraud; or obtaining other people’s data for their own nefarious ends – cyber crime.
How To Stop Them?
Total elimination is probably impossible but, we should all take steps neutralize the risk as soon as it appears and to minimize the risk if it gets through our defences. Anti-virus programmes, firewalls, passwords, private networks, etc. all play a part in this but, these are software driven. Additional hardware should also be considered. For example if a network security appliance were to be connected into your system; you would have a sensor that can locate any type of connectable device operating within your vicinity.
From the data gathered by this Network Security Appliance, not only do you know what type of device is in operation but you can tell if it is a device that you have authorized to operate in this place and allowed it to have full access to your network. The sensor’s associated software can be programmed to deny access to unauthorized devices.
