There are many things in life that are worth protecting. Our children, our valuables, our resources and of course, ourselves. Only twenty years ago, if security was mentioned, you were speaking of protecting your home. And you were most likely discussing a security system, monitoring, watchdogs, firearms and cameras.With explosion of personal computer, and internet’s ease of access to information, security has now taken on additional roles. With over 605 million people online at any given moment worldwide, criminals are no longer bound by geographic location. Today’s cyber criminal can hack from comfort of his home just by getting online.
There are software programs that do nothing but scan internet for un-secure ports and open networks so that they can enter into those unprotected machines to access critical information. There are many users who know little about internet security and rely on their ISP to provide it for them.
To look deeper into this topic, let’s examine qualities that make security both similar and different. With your home, you have a physical area that you can protect with fire and motion sensors, cameras, glass-break detectors and decals strategically placed to deter would-be thieves. For your computer, you protect a virtual space usually containing sensitive information relevant to your personal finances or key identity theft items such as family names and social security numbers. To protect these resources, one must install software (anti-virus, port scanners, Trojan hunting software, firewalls) as one level of protection. You can also add another layer of security through a hardware firewall of connectivity to and from internet or network.
Both home security and computer security have maintenance costs associated with them. Reliable home security will usually consist of a one-time fee to install hardware in your home, and then an agreement to have 24-hour monitoring service for a given length of time. Computer security will consist of buying software and then either a monthly or yearly subscription fee to receive latest information and protection from internet threats.
One difference between two are methods of monitoring. While computer security is only responsive while computer is active or online, home security monitoring is responsive at all times provided system is properly armed.
Another distinction is method of response. In home security, a human will respond by dispatching police, fire or EMS directly to your home or business site. On a computer, response is when software vendor becomes aware of problem, creates a solution, and has an update available for download.