Master Computer Security Basics, Anytime
Access control involves managing who has access to specific systems and resources at a given time. The concept of access control revolves around the process comprised of three steps. These steps are identification, authentication, and authorization. Using these three principles a system administrator can control what resources are available to a system’s users.
The term identification [...]
Environmental security, from a computer networking standpoint, involves protecting and controlling the facilities where your systems are stored. The benefits of well-constructed environmental security process can ensure that data is not lost or in the case of a system failure is able to restore critical functions. Environmental security processes ensure business continuity in the [...]
A hash, also called a digest, is a unique string of data. A hash is created when a collection of information that you want to protect is run through a hash function. The process of creating a hash is called hashing. The resulting hash is unique to the original message and therefore can be used [...]
Using the technology of asymmetric or public key cryptography, a digital certificate is used to verify a user’s public key. In other words, digital certificates ensure that a user is who he says he is and a website is who they say they are. Verifying identities with digital certificates is important because many phishing and [...]
Like digital certificates a digital signature is created with asymmetric or public-key cryptography. In the same way as signing your name to a document legally binds the document to you, a digital signature proves that a document belongs to a user. In addition, a digital signature provides other benefits beyond simply proving that [...]
In order to fully understand digital certificates, learning a little about cryptography is helpful. To learn the basics of cryptography go HERE.
Digital certificates rely upon public key cryptography to operate. Public key cryptography uses two mathematically related keys to secure data. The first key is the private key of the message recipient and the second [...]
Cryptography is an important part of preventing private data from being stolen. Even if an attacker were to break into your computer or intercept your messages they still will not be able to read the data if it is protected by cryptography or encrypted. In addition to concealing the meaning of data, cryptography performs other [...]
