PROTECTION FROM CYBER TERRORISM
PROTECTION FROM CYBER TERRORISM- A FEW SUGGESTIONS
Currently there are no foolproof ways to protect a system. The completely secure system can never be accessed by anyone. Most of the militaries classified information is kept on machines with no outside connection, as a form of prevention of cyber terrorism. Apart from such isolation, the most common method of protection is encryption. The wide spread use of encryption is inhibited by the governments ban on its exportation, so intercontinental communication is left relatively insecure.
The Clinton administration and the FBI oppose the export of encryption in favor of a system where by the government can gain the key to an encrypted system after gaining a court order to do so. The director of the FBI’s stance is that the Internet was not intended to go unpoliced and that the police need to protect people’s privacy and public-safety rights there. Encryption’s drawback is that it does not protect the entire system, an attack designed to cripple the whole system, such as a virus, is unaffected by encryption.
Others promote the use of firewalls to screen all communications to a system, including e-mail messages, which may carry logic bombs. Firewall is a relatively generic term for methods of filtering access to a network. They may come in the form of a computer, router other communications device or in the form of a network configuration. Firewalls serve to define the services and access that are permitted to each user. One method is to screen user requests to check if they come from a previously defined domain or Internet Protocol (IP) address. Another method is to prohibit Telnet access into the system.
Here are few key things to remember to protect from cyber-terrorism:
- All accounts should have passwords and the passwords should be unusual, difficult to guess.
- Change the network configuration when defects become know.
- Check with venders for upgrades and patches.
- Audit systems and check logs to help in detecting and tracing an intruder.
- If you are ever unsure about the safety of a site, or receive suspicious email from an unknown address, don’t access it. It could be trouble.
