Security has always been an issue of great concern for both individuals and organizations. Even before the advent of computer technology, people were highly concerned about their security, and the security of their assets and information related to them. Due to this fact security measures were established to ensure that people, properties and sensitive information were appropriately secured.
In the contemporary society, security has become an even important issue due to the increasing use of computers, which come with a security risk (Rao, 2006, p. 45). As people, especially children, increasingly access risky sites like the social media, it is even more important to secure computer systems.
This paper is an exploration of the relationship between technology and security, which also seeks to establish why it is important for a classroom teacher to know about the security issues that are associable with technology.
As much as technology has made life easier, it is can be used manipulatively by malicious people. There are a lot of security issues that have arisen due to the use of technology (Koprowski, 2005, p. 1). One of these issues is hacking. It is the process through which malicious computer programmers attack other people’s computers to obtain personal information that can be used to attack them or even steal from them.
Hacking has been a great issue especially in relation to the use of computer technology in financial institutions like banks. Hackers normally use deceptive programs to gain access to computers (Seymour, 2004, p. 37).
They are then able to obtain personal information like credit card information which they can use to defraud their victims, or they can even obtain personal information like photos, or sensitive documents which they can use for various malicious purposes.
Information security is important to a teacher in a classroom environment. A teacher should be very careful about information security particularly because there is a lot of information in the custody of the teacher that students should not access. In the same way, the teacher may also have personal information like private photographs, credit card information, personal identification numbers, etc (Radack, 2006, p. 1).
If a teacher is not careful about information security, some information like examinations, credit card numbers, or even private photos may be accessed by students who may use it maliciously.
Other people like fellow teachers may also access information that they are not supposed to access like secret research projects that a teacher may be undertaking, and worse still, some attacks may damage the computer system that the teacher uses (Handschuh, 2004, p. 98).
This will make the teacher and the institution as a whole to lose data, which could translate to financial loss, or loss of substantial amounts of time while trying to recover the data.
From the discussion above, it is apparent that information security is an important part of any computer system. This is because security loopholes in a computer system may make individuals and organizations lose a lot of money. It can also make organizations lose their goodwill and status since some information may find itself in the hands of people who may misuse it.
It is thus important for organizations like schools to employ security measures like firewalls, and even passwords in order to ensure that information is secure. Given the repercussions of having a poor security system in an organization, it is even recommended that organizations and institutions hire information security experts to provide the institutions with information security solutions that will be difficult to manipulate.
Reference List
Handschuh, H. (2004). Contactless Technology Security Issues. CHI Publishing Ltd, Information Security Issues, Vol. 9, pp. 95 – 100.
Koprowski, G. (2005). Study: Data Loss, Network Vulnerabilities Top Security Issues. Web.
Radack, S. (2006). Security for wireless networks and devices. Web.
Rao, V. (2006). Enhancing Computer Security with Smart Technology. Auerback Publications.
Seymour, B. (2004). Computer Security Handbook. New York. Barnes & Noble.