Chapter 1. Oracle and Security When Marlene Theriault's 91-year-old father learned that she was writing a book, his first question was, "What's it about?" "Security," she said. Astounded, her father asked, "You're writing a book about social security?" To each one of us, the word "security" may mean something different, depending on how and where the word is used. To the elderly, security may mean a government-issued check deposited to their bank account each month. To a woman traveling alone, security may mean a hotel room door locked with both a deadbolt and a heavy chain. To a movie star or politician, it may mean a bodyguard who travels everywhere with them. To your company, it may mean maintaining a guard force to ensure that your office buildings are safe. Just as a guard force helps ensure that people do not enter buildings or areas in which they don't belong, in the computer world "security" may translate into hardware, software, and a set of technical and personnel procedures that together help ensure that unauthorized people do not gain access to areas of information they should not seeand that authorized people do not jeopardize your system and data by exceeding their authority.  |
