Aim and purpose:
The aim of this unit is to ensure learners know about the types and sources of network attacks and how to protect against them and to develop the skills and understanding needed to plan for and protect a network system.
Unit introduction
In this unit learners will build an understanding of the security issues that relate specifically to networked systems.
The need to ensure that all computer and networked systems are secure is vital to individuals and organisations. There are frequent news reports about IT security issues and virus scares. This unit ensures that learners know where and how security threats arise and how organisation scan minimise their risks. They will research organisational policies and procedures to find out how they can help protect systems. Breaches in security may be caused by human actions, either accidentally or by malicious intent,negligence or through incorrect installation, configuration or operation.
Attacks against networked systems are commonplace and increasing and, therefore, the IT practitioner needs to develop specialist skills to be able to combat these threats. This unit enables learners to understand why security is necessary, what specific potential dangers exist and how to protect systems.
The unit introduces the hardware and software the IT technician can utilise to combat threats, looking at both wired and wireless network systems. Personal access controls such as biometrics will be investigated and cryptography techniques tried and compared. Intrusion detection systems such as firewalls and virus checkers will be used.
An important part of the unit is the practical work. Learners will have the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to learning and configure and test networked systems to improve security.
Learning outcomes:
On completion of this unit a learner should:
- 1 Know the types and sources of network attacks
- 2 Know about security related hardware andsoftware
- 3 Understand organisational aspects of networksecurity
- 4 Be able to apply system security