Information security is an essential practice that ensures the safety of information. Generally, information security is founded on three fundamental values; confidentiality, integrity and availability. In order to ensure to ensure the safety of information from unauthorized access, modification, misuse and corruption, safety practices are necessary. Two safety mechanisms and practices are required to ensure the safety of information in computer systems;
- Development of policies that regulate the handling of information.
- Periodic review of information security status through conferences, training forums and assessments
Formulation of security policies is important because policies serve as guidelines for the use, access, storage and transfer of information between related parties. Policy formulation processes outlines the mechanisms in which information should be retrieved, used, and stored, and the personnel that are authorized to use it. This regulates the flow of information to the wrong persons thereby reducing the risks of misuse and modification. Information in the digital age is vulnerable to numerous attacks originating from different sources. Attacks such as viruses, malware, and spyware among other degrade the quality and integrity of information.
In order to continuously monitor the evolution of new attacks and develop mechanisms to prevent and mitigate its effects, periodic review of the threats should be carried out. These reviews examine and assess the evolution schemes of new threats and the target areas as well as weakness point. This is done through collaborative involvement of the concerned parties in research institutions, conferences, trainings and seminars. These events have the advantage over individual reviews because it involves many stakeholders with different versions of vulnerabilities and solutions. Collaborative learning is essential in this era of the internet revolution due to the emerging challenges posed by widespread computer applications.
References
Nye, J. S. (2008, Decenber). Cyber insecurity. Project Sindicate .
Shelly, G. B. (2009). Discovering Computers 2009:. Cengage Learning,.
