IT Security Notes

Issue 1At Vicomsoft we want to keep in touch with you. We havethought about it long and hard and decided that one way toaccomplish this would be to send you emails with usefulinformation in them. And since we are in the informationsecurity business, that is what we are going to talk about ineach issue of IT Security Notes. Now this may sound simplerthan it is. In fact it is not simple at all. Informationsecurity is so vast and intimidating that it is hard to knowwhere to start.Keep reading...--------------------------------------------------------------Remember when you didn't have to be scared to browse theweb? Remove harmful adware, spyware, trojans, dialers andworms.http://www.vicomsoft.com/cgi-bin/moreinfo.cgi?ID=4001--------------------------------------------------------------You may be asking, who would want to read this kind of stuffanyway? Security pros will find it boringly simple and therest of us don't need to know. Well, please allow me to saythat I disagree. The 'rest of us' need to have a basicunderstanding of the issues. This ezine will not make you aninformation security pro. It will help you get a global graspof a very large subject that, like it or not, is going to bewith us for a long time. To use an overworked metaphor, youcan drive a car without being a mechanic, but if you drive onewith no knowledge of why there is oil in the motor or water inthe radiator, you will get into trouble sooner or later.Where information security is concerned, many of us are likefirst-time car buyers in 1925 who really need to be toldeverything. So I' m not taking anything for granted. We'll getright down to the basics and work our way up.(image placeholder)You can look at security from different perspectives such asproducts like CheckPoint or SSH, architectures like perimetersecurity or layer 2 security, technologies like IPSec orTCP/IP or even threats like viruses or DoS. Faced with such avast array of choices, we decided to look at informationsecurity from the point of view of threats, because if therewere no threats, there would be no need for security.In the upcoming weeks, I'm going to attempt to drip-feed yourmind with security basics. We have found that many peoplewould like to have a firmer grip in information security. Butwhen they go to dip their toe in the water, the vastness ofthe subject and the steepness of the learning curve puts themoff. So what I'd like to do is examine a single threat, forexample email viruses, that I'm sure we can all relate to.Then I'm going to look at the implications of this threat foryou, your network and your information infrastructure. Thentogether we'll look at steps you can take to ensure that youhave minimised the risk to your organization. I will keep eachissue short. You will be able to read it in about two minutes.I look forward to talking with you again in a week or two.Peter AdamsonIT Security Notes