Network Security
- It is a term that covers the multitude of technologies, devices, and processes.
- In a simple term, a set of rules and configurations designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality and accessibility of the computer networks and data using both software and hardware technologies.
Advantages
- Protection from malicious attacks on the network
- Prevents users from unauthorized access to the network
- Protect the confidential information
Disadvantages
- Strict regulations
- Difficult to work with the non-technical users
- Easy to be attacked
Importance
This network security is important especially for home networks but also in business world. Most homes that has high speed internet connections will have wireless routers, not one but more, which this can be exploited or hack if it is not properly secured. By this, a solid network security system can help to reduce the data loss, theft, or even sabotage.
Basically network security is to protect the data from being lost and to protect the network from being hack.
Example of network security breach
Date: May 2014
Impact: 145 million users compromised
Details: The online auction giant reported a cyberattack in May 2014 that it said exposed names, addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords of all of its 145 million users. The company said hackers got into the company network using the credentials of three corporate employees, and had complete inside access for 229 days, during which time they were able to make their way to the user database.
It asked its customers to change their passwords, but said financial information, such as credit card numbers, was stored separately and was not compromised. The company was criticized at the time for a lack of communication informing its users and poor implementation of the password-renewal process.
CEO John Donahue said the breach resulted in a decline in user activity, but had little impact on the bottom line – its Q2 revenue was up 13 percent and earnings up 6 percent, in line with analyst expectations.
How did this happen?
According to eBay, attackers compromised employee log-in credentials. This gave the attackers access to the corporate network and the systems on it.
As is the case with most attacks that result in credential theft, the attackers likely used a socially-based attack of some kind. The best bet is Phishing. However, eBay isn't discussing how the credentials were compromised, so it could be Phishing, or it could be malware. The public may never know.
References:
Forcepoint. (2018). What is Network Security?. [online] Available at: https://www.forcepoint.com/cyber-edu/network-security [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].
profile, V. (2009). Internet Security : Advantages and Disadvantages. [online] Crush64.blogspot.com. Available at: http://crush64.blogspot.com/2009/10/internet-security-laws-advantages-and.html [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].
Herzing University. (2017). What is Network Security and Why is it Important?. [online] Available at: https://www.herzing.edu/blog/what-network-security-and-why-it-important [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].
Armerding, T. (2019). The 18 biggest data breaches of the 21st century. [online] CSO Online. Available at: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2130877/the-biggest-data-breaches-of-the-21st-century.html [Accessed 15 Oct. 2019].
Ragan, S. (2019). Raising awareness quickly: The eBay data breach. [online] CSO Online. Available at: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2157782/security-awareness-raising-awareness-quickly-the-ebay-database-compromise.html [Accessed 15 Oct. 2019].
