Data security

Security of data is not about keeping it secret, that is privacy. There are laws that cover privacy of data, but it is the computer owner's responsibility to ensure that the data on the computer is kept safe. This is usually done using a process called backing-up data. This means copying it onto a different store.

Floppy disks can be used to back-up small data files. Larger items may need to be backed-up using different methods. 

Sometimes, people use a tape drive to back-up data. This system holds much more than a floppy disk. It is a bit more expensive because you need extra equipment, and it also takes longer because it uses serial access.

This is a bit like using a music tape at home. If you want to listen to the third track on side one, you have to wind past tracks one and two first. Disks can use direct or sequential access. If you want to listen to the third track on a CD you do not have to wait for tracks one and two to pass.

Alternatively, you can use very high capacity floppy disks which can be taken from the computer and which hold larger quantities of data. Again, the user needs to buy extra equipment, but back-ups are much quicker. Now, users can buy CD's on which to store data. Again, extra equipment is needed.

Read the story below very carefully:

Neville Grant is a builder and he has a team of five people who work for him. He often has up to ten different jobs on the go at any one time. He needs to use a production chart to help schedule jobs and has a vast filing system to deal with material orders, invoices, payroll, tax returns, accounts and petty cash receipts.

Neville is spending more and more time doing paperwork, although he has a secretary, and is easily persuaded when a fellow builder, Sue, says "What you need, Neville, is a computer. I've got one and they are marvellous." Neville asks, "What sort have you got and where did you get it?" Sue tells Neville, and he goes straight off that afternoon and buys an identical computer to Sue's.

Luckily, Neville's secretary has used a computer before, and after many telephone calls and favours called in, she manages to get it running with the data from the paperwork.

Neville is so pleased that, despite warnings, he throws all his old paperwork into the skip.

Neville was very pleased until he arrived at work one morning to find a very unhappy secretary, and a computer which was, apparently, dead to the world.

Neville tried changing the fuse, the plug, and in desperation, the socket. Then he did what many people do in these circumstances - he hit it. None of this helped in the slightest.

Task 1

Now write down some of the data you think Neville has lost under these headings:

Customers

Mrs Emery phones and leaves a message on the answer phone. She says the job that Neville started three weeks ago needs finishing. What information does Neville need that he has not got?

Staff

Ron, the electrician, comes into work. "I've finished that job at the newsagents - what's next?" What is Neville's problem here?

Finance

 Mary, the secretary, reminds Neville that today is pay-day, and as all his employees are paid on an hourly basis, what should she do?

Task 2

Now write a memo from Neville to Sue advising her how to avoid the same disaster happening to her.

Use the information about backing-up data. You should use the memo wizards in Word or Publisher.

Task 3

How security conscious are you? Try this quiz!

Task 4