Data Security

What is “Data Security”

According to Janssen, C. (2010) Data security refers to protective digital privacy measures that are applied to prevent unauthorized access to computers, databases and websites. Data security also protects data from corruption. Data security is the main priority for organizations of every size and genre.
Data security is also known as information security (IS) or computer security.

One can protect data by using by using 2 methods
i. Physical restrictions
ii. Software restrictions
Software restrictions create barriers to data corruption,restrict access to software that contain sensitive data, or software that cause damage.

i. Password- is a combination of characters that must be entered before one can access, view or edit data. Documents and other kinds of files and media can also be protected  by computer passwords so they cannot be used until you enter the password. Even personal computers can be setup so that you have to enter a username and password before you can access the computer contents.
The most secure password are a combination of letters, symbols and numbers  eg.
P@$$w0rd

ii. Encryption- the process of encoding a message in order for it to be read only by the sender and the recipient. The data is written using encryption code so it Cannot be understood just by reading it. The data must be decrypted using a key. The key provides a algorithm that was used to encrypt the data.

e.g A= 1.  B=2  C=3 ……..

You receive the following
4 5 1 18

Apply the key to decrypt the data and get the message DEAR
 4= D
 5= E
 1= A
18= R

Physical Restrictions
I. Back up and recovery
II. Archiving
III. Biometric system
IV. Lock and guards
V. Propriety software and data


Cato, et al (2010). Information Technology. Nelson Thornes.
For more information visit. http://www.trendmicro.com/us/enterprise/data-protection/