Chapter 1: Basic Concepts

Overview

Regardless of whether computer and network data are transmitted on a wired or wireless medium, the basic security concepts remain much the same. The first part of this book is intended to cover those basic concepts. Later, we will discuss security and the laws as they relate to business use of wired and wireless networking environments of today. Some of the content presented in this book has been excerpted from the Cybersecurity Operations Handbook [1] with the permission of Digital Press, an imprint of Elsevier Science.

For those among us who are tasked with managing business, and for that ever-shrinking number of Information Technology (IT) professionals who are not directly involved in the daily struggles coping with cybersecurity issues, one might be tempted to ask,

"What is the big deal about cybersecurity, really?"

"How does it affect our company infrastructure?"

"How does it affect users in our organization?"

"Is it something our management team should worry about?"

These are all legitimate questions. More and more today, IT professionals face an ever-growing and daunting task. Attacks occur every single day [2]. The only question to be asked in today's modern computing environment is, "Are we prepared to deal with an attack?" This book provides guidance on how to prepare for such assaults against organizational infrastructure. It will help network and systems administrators prepare to answer these types of questions and provide compelling information that can help even the most reluctant manager or administrator come to terms with the changed, threatening computing environment we face today.