What is Computer Security?

Computer security concerns itself with the methods and protocols necessary to protect both computer systems and the data that resides on them from hostile intentions.

Computer security is a fast growing field as computers become, and already are, critical to our daily lives. It is a field that is just as important to protecting the financial data systems of our banks, as it is to securing the computers that run our trains and distribute our electricity, from external attack.

What are some important aspects of computer security?

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the more important areas involved with computer security:

• Passwords.
  
• Data encryption and decryption.
  
• Hardware level protection, the most popular example of this being an intelligent router.
  
• Honeypots, a modern anti-hacker method which attempts to entrap hackers by creating systems, specifically for the purpose of inviting attacks so they can distract the attacker and study the attacker's methods.
  
• Advanced network monitoring and intrusion detection systems(IDS). The pinnacle of advanced network monitoring is trying to prevent hostile actions such as denial of service attacks as they are happening.