Passive IT Securities

Simple Setup
In protecting a business against IT threats, it is important to integrate security measures with the overall business strategy and all operational levels. In addition, businesses should be proactive in protecting against security risks, but must also have specific plans and procedures for emergency situations. While each industry involves the use of IT in different ways, there are some quick ways, often automated or running in the background, to protect against general threats.

System Design
Employee Log-in: By giving employees their own username and requiring them to log-in when using computers, employers can limit the websites or files each employee can access.

Secure Network: Network security consists of the provisions and policies adopted by a network administrator to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator. Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other authenticating information that allows them access to information and programs within their authority. Network security covers a variety of computer networks, both public and private, that are used in everyday jobs conducting transactions and communications among businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to public access. Network security is involved in organizations, enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains: It secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing operations being done. The most common and simple way of protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a corresponding password.

Programs
A firewall is normally the primary method used to keep a computer secure from intruders. A firewall allows or blocks users into and out of a private network. They are also used to give users a secure access to the Internet. Firewalls are really important in a corporate setting because they are used as a way for the company to separate their public web server from the internal network. In terms of personal use, firewalls typically come preinstalled on new computers and protect users from websites that may want to steal a users personal information.

Anti-Virus software is a "program that searches your hard drive and floppy disk for any known or potential viruses. The market for this kind of program has expanded because of Internet growth and the increasing use of the Internet by businesses concerned about protecting their computer assets."

Encryption - is used to facilitate secret communication. Commonly used in computer security for data transit and data storage. Encryption is a means for protecting "at rest" data, as found in laptops and on computers and other storage devices. Encrypting data that is intransit can protect the confidentiality of messages sent via networks (i.e. the internet, e-commerce), mobile telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices. Other techniques are also needed to protect the integrity and authenticity of a message; for example, verification of a message authentication code or digital signature. A digital signature and encryption must be applied at message creation time to avoid tampering.

Anti-Malware/Spyware - Antivirus and anti-malware software commonly hooks deep into the operating system's core or kernel functions in a manner similar to how malware itself would attempt to operate, though with the user's informed permission for protecting the system. Anytime the operating system performs a task, the anti-malware software checks the action for potential downside risk and the performance of the approved action. This typically slows down the process time of the operating system and consumes large amounts of memory. The idea is to preempt potential breaches by malware including activities that might exploit bugs or trigger unexpected operating system behavior.

Anti-malware programs can combat malware in two ways: Real-time protection of malware works considerably similar to antivirus protection; the software scans disk files at download time, and blocks the activity of components known to represent malware. In some cases, it may also intercept attempts to install start-up items or to modify browser settings.
 * 1) They can provide real time protection against the installation of malware software on a computer. This type of spyware protection works the same way as that of antivirus protection in that the anti-malware software scans all incoming network data for malware software and blocks any threats it comes across.
 * 2) Anti-malware software programs can be used solely for detection and removal of malware software that has already been installed onto a computer. This type of anti-malware software scans the contents of the Windows registry, operating system files, and installed programs on a computer and will provide a list of any threats found, allowing the user to choose which files to delete or keep, or to compare this list to a list of known malware components, removing files that match.

Pop-up Blocker - Pop-up windows, or pop-ups, are windows that appear automatically without your permission. They vary in size but usually don't cover the whole screen. Some pop-ups open on top of the browser window, while others appear underneath the window(pop-unders).

A pop-up blocker allows you to control both pop-ups and pop-unders through control panels in the Options window. Generally pop-up blocking is turned on by default, so you don't have to worry about enabling it to prevent pop-ups from appearing in your browser.

Some websites, including some banking sites, use pop-ups for important features. Blocking all pop-ups disables such features. To allow specific websites to use pop-ups, while blocking all others, you can add specific websites to the list of allowed sites.