Network and Internet Privacy and Security - Computing Fundamentals - page 300

Before you start assigning permissions to share data with others, you
should consider what you wish to share and how much access to allow.
For example, you can set a folder's or file's permissions to give others
access to its contents, but not allow them to change the contents. Or,
you could set a folder's or file's permissions such that others can add,
change, and/or delete items.

Be cautious when sharing folders and files with others. Give people only
the level of access they need—and no more.

Using a Firewall
A firewall is a security barrier on your computer or network that con-
trols what traffic is allowed into and out of your computer or network.
The barrier is designed to separate your computer or network, which you
trust, from an external network, which you might not.

firewall A security barrier on your computer or
network that controls what traffic is allowed to
pass through.

Computers that run later versions of the Windows operating system
include a firewall application by default, called Windows Firewall.

Do not disable the firewall unless you have another form of protection in place. If you don't have an active
firewall, your computer or network will be exposed to all sorts of threats that could damage your computer or
cause you to lose files or data.

CAUTION

Encrypting Data
When you store data on a hard drive, the data is written such that it
can be read by anyone who has access to the drive, which means that
your data is vulnerable. Fortunately, there are ways to protect your
data so that only you can access it. One method is to use encryption.
Encryption involves using a mathematical process to scramble data to
such an extent it is impossible to read . . . unless you have the key. The
key unscrambles or decrypts the data so that it is readable again. When
you use encryption on your computer, you work as normal; the encryp-
tion and decryption processes take place in the background.

encrypt To scramble the contents of a file so it
cannot be read without the required permission
to decrypt it.

decrypt To reverse the encryption of a file so that
the file appears in its original form again.

Don't save the recovery key on the hard drive you have just encrypted. You won't be able to read it if you lose
the password!

CAUTION