Threats in Computer Security

 In this Computer Security Article, we are going to discuss Threats, Assets, Value, Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Value, etc. In the previous articles, we had discussed all about computer security assets, value.

We are not going to make this article boring, so lets discuss in a very general, easy to understand way. Harm or Attacks to the valuable assets can be seen in two perspectives or ways. 
1. What bad things can happen to assets
2. Who or what can cause those bad things to happen.
These two views enable us to determine how to protect assets, implement computer security.

Let us think What bad things can happen, What makes your computer valuable to you. First, you use it for sending and receiving emails, searching web, writing and publishing papers, performing many other tasks like running business online, teaching online, you store and access private data, etc... and you expect the computer to be available for your use when you want. Without your computer, these tasks would get harder, if not impossible.
Secondly, You rely heavily on computer's integrity. When you edit and save a document on your local hard drive, you trust that it will reload exactly as you saved it. Similarly, you expect the "personal" aspect of personal computers to stay personal, meaning you want it to protect your confidentiality. For example, you want your email messages to stay between you and your recipient only and not let it broadcast to other people.

Therefore we can say that Computer Security has three basic and fundamental properties, Objective of Computer Security.
1. Confidentiality : The ability of Computer Security to ensure that an asset is viewed only by the authorised parties.
2. Integrity: The ability of Computer Security to ensure that asset is modified by authorised party only.
3. Availability: The ability of Computer Security to make sure that the asset is used by the authorised party only.

Now, we are going to discuss the second perspective that is What or who can cause harm to asset.

What can happen to harm the C-I-A short for Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability of Computer Assets? If a thief steals your computer, you no longer have access, so you have lost availability. furthermore, if the thief looks at the pictures or documents you have stored, then your confidentiality is compromised. And if the thief changes the content of data and returns your computer, the integrity is harmed.