Securing The Electronic Operating Environment Essay -- Information Tec

Purpose Operating systems, applications, databases, and other types of information processing systems are the core element for all business operations all through the private and public sector environments. Because no information system is bulletproof, nor is there any way to ensure complete safety while using any type of electronic device it is essential to practice vigilance at all times. Viruses, Trojans, worms, and other malicious tools are used daily by hackers at an attempt to compromise sensitive data and integrity of information systems. Without stable, secure applications and operating systems that have been updated with the latest patches, and tested for durability to provide a secure computing environment, the confidentiality, integrity, and availability to the entire domain and infrastructure are at risk. Differentiating between the good and bad is crucial to the protection of IT assets and personnel. This report will evaluate operating system and application security, methods us ed to verify authenticity, and reveal the most common vulnerabilities found throughout various digital operating environments. Digital information security can be defined best as the protection of IT assets and services against unauthorized access. An authorized user or service with legitimate permission to access sensitive data systems or applications may engage in malicious activities such as inputting incorrect data into the system to force others to repeat the same task over. Although these types of activities may not cause immediate irreversible damage to the infrastructure it still remains important to prevent such incidents from occurring before they escalate into something more serious. For this reason it is essential to not onl... ...mes - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News. Retrieved May 27, 2012, from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/13/computer-based-attacks-emerge-as-threat-of-future-/?page=all Johnson, R., & Merkow, M. S. (2011). Security policies and implementation issues. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Operating System and Process Monitoring Tools. (n.d.). Department of Computer Science & Engineering . Retrieved May 24, 2012, from http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse567-06/ftp/os_monitors/index.html Thielen, D. (1992). No bugs!: delivering error-free code in C and C++. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. Virtual machine Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Technology Product Reviews, News, Prices & Downloads | PCMag.com | PC Magazine. Retrieved May 24, 2012, from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,1237,t=virtual+machine&i=53927,00.asp