What is the Importance of Network Security?

What is network security, and why is it so important? Technology has become such an ingrained part of our society that securing it has become a necessity, but how do you secure a bunch of ones and zeroes? That is where network security comes in.

Security is needed in all parts of life. You need to feel secure in your home, so you have locks on your doors. Museums need to be secured from thieves, so they have security guards and cameras. And with the information age, the very information stored on our computers can be stolen, copied, or destroyed. Preventing this is the essence of cyber security.

When you consider network security, you need to consider every possible facet of what could happen to your data physically and digitally. Your computers need to be in a secure location and only personnel with the proper authorization should be able to access them. Your computers also need to be in a protected network with firewalls and any number of other security techniques.

It is known within the security community that given enough time and resources, any person that is dedicated enough can break through any security. Just look at popular heist movies such as Ocean's Eleven, those people had the time and the resources to break through or get around the security that would have prevented them from achieving their goal. This concept applies to digital information as well. Some hackers are novices and don't pose much of a threat unless you don't have any security. But some hackers are innovative and smart enough to get around higher levels of security.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to secure our belongings, but it does mean that we need to be as prepared as we can for those who would do us harm. We should be proportionally prepared for a digital attack as important as the data we are keeping. Banks need extremely high security, but a website full of flash games doesn't need that same level of protection.

In short, because of the times we live in, and even more so now since most of us are working virtually from home, we need to protect our data. If you want to learn how to secure your network and the networks of companies and businesses, the University of Advancing Technology has the Network Security major just for you.

-Kody Mitchell

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