الأحد، 26 أبريل 2009

Why security is important for the average user?

Why security is important for the average user

In part because of the "personal" nature of personal computers, most computer users do not believe they want or need security. In truth, there are many ways in which security is useful even to the home or individual user.
While most people believe that security is only used for denying other people access to your files, it has a far more important purpose -- to keep you or others from accidentally or deliberately destroying something important.
For example, almost everyone has accidentally deleted all the files in the current directory only to find that they were not in the directory they expected. Security makes it possible (although not mandatory) to protect critical files from accidental deletion in this manner.
Another use for security mechanisms becomes obvious when a single computer is shared between several users (a very common occurrence in business environments, and almost universal in home environments). While most often it is acceptable for users to look at the contents of each others' files, you probably don't want your son, daughter, or roommate to accidentally delete your term project when they meant to delete their letter to mom.
But possibly the most important potential use for security on personal computer systems is protection from malice. Few would argue that the scourge of personal computers is the virus, yet most viruses can be stopped cold with even the most primitive security features. By disallowing changes to system files and executables by normal users a virus that is not run by an administrator cannot possibly invade the system. This is, in part, why viruses are unheard-of on UNIX systems -- a virus complicated enough to overcome the system security is big enough to be noticed immediately and so difficult to write that few will even attempt the effort.




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