Computer Security Basics

Computer security covers a lot of territory: locking your server and telecommunications rooms, locking your machine, protecting your login accounts with strong passwords, using file protection and adhering to a regular backup schedule to keep your data from being destroyed, encrypting network communications lines, and using special shields to keep electromagnetic emanations from leaking out of your computer (TEMPEST). But when people talk about computer security, they usually mean what is called computer system security, which is a fancy way of saying data protection.