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IT Security – the latest challenge

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IT Security (Photo credit: Don Hankins)

IT Security – the Latest Challenge

IT security|Computer Security|Hacking|White Hat|Black Hat

IT security always remained an issue of strategic importance for any country or an organization, or at least since the computers are storing, connecting and sharing data across the continents through networks. Despite risks of phishing, malware, hacking, thefts of on-line identity and money, world nations have always overlooked IT security as an issue of national concern as trusted organizations dealt with it. But recent revelation of USA found snooping on to the other countries’ data and Uncle Sam pointing towards Huawei that the enterprise is spying on other countries the issue has regained the tag of hot topic of debate all over the world.

Hacking and the IT security

The term hacking represents the means of getting access to the data by overcoming the network security through weak points. Hacking can happen anywhere where the wireless or wired access to the networks is available and you are subscribing to it. You may get a mail with a hyper-link tempting you to get access to million dollars of bucks that are kept in store for you. Or without your knowledge the hacker may surpass your security using the network and tamper with the crucial documents. Providing security to your on-line data in such conditions is all what IT security about, but the scale may vary from an individual to the national.

White and Black Hat hackers are the terms used to name hackers who try to get access to the network for good and bad purpose, respectively. These hackers use vulnerability scanning tools to find the weak spots of an enterprise’s network security such as defects in system configuration and codes, and malware and patching updates that are missing. The availability of plethora of web applications to explore the vulnerable spots for hacking, has made the networks and data highly favorable targets to cripple a country’s economy.

There are active and passive vulnerability scanning tools that target busy and calm areas of the network to find IT security lapses. These tools are used together to generate report on the weak spots of the network and care is a must to decipher the reports as system files may also be reported by them. To be more effective these tools need human intervention to find risks more accurately as the tools are more of identifying unlike blocking of the attacks done by firewalls.

World towards IT security

World countries such as UK, Australia, India, Africa and Singapore gave a mixed response on the issue with India planning to develop a body called National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to assess IT security threats; Singapore and Africa calling for action on lapses on IT security. In the meanwhile, the USA defended its actions as for a good cause and the Huawei rejected the accusation by USA and expressed its wish to explore other means of on-line security.

Besides all these a latest report by China says, bit coins, the virtual currencies, used in on-line financial transactions have become the most favorable target of hackers. To achieve their missions the hackers use botnet computers, the computers connected to network that are used by them to transmit viruses or spam messages to other computers without the knowledge of the user. All these have raised concerns about the IT security and increased the demand for people qualified for identifying and overcoming such threats.

Various courses – direct and online – are available that can help you become a qualified IT security professional. You can search the internet for more details on IT security and hacking and the institutions that are offering courses on them.

Note: You may like to check other blogs as well on topics related to Management, Automobiles, Lifestyle and Gadgets at https://vinodkumaracharya.wordpress.com.

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