Security Detail

“In A Bind” is an interactive site that searches the web for the cheapest prices on your textbooks based on the information that you give it about your classes. Once you've picked everything you need, you can purchase or rent the books and we'll ship them right to your doorstep.

Risky Business

In this day and age I think there are a few facts that we can all agree on: (1) Charlie Sheen is a nut, (2) Apple is slowly taking over the phone universe and (3) Our society runs on computers. Computers can be found in almost every corner of our planet from Texas to Tokyo and everywhere in between. They have brought people together and revolutionized the way that we on a personal and professional level. But, with the good, comes the bad. Between security breaches and threats of cyber terrorism, it’s no surprise that computer security has become a growing area of information science. Computer security has to do with the different ways that you protect your computer from any type of threat; whether the threat is hacking, viruses, or vandalism. There are many different types of security risks, like hackers, crackers, cyber-extortionists, cyber-terrorists, and script kiddies (just to name a few). Computer security can protect you from many different types of risks like internet and network attacks, unauthorized access and use, information theft, and system failure.  With all of these threats and hazards running around, I want to make sure that my company has the best of the best in terms of security, so that we as well as our customers are safe no matter what.

Who Goes There?

“In A Bind” is an internet business, so protecting our customers as well as ourselves from any outside threats is our number one concern. Between all of the different things that can make their way into your system these days (viruses, Trojans, worms, etc.), it can be very difficult to keep up with all of the things going on; which is why I want to have a computer security team. This group of individuals will be in charge of protecting our networks and website from any and all types of threats. There are three basic tools that I want our system to have as our main defense mechanism which will help us block and prevent most threats:

·         Antivirus application: This is going to be one of our biggest security tools. Antivirus applications are used to find and get rid of malware on your computer (things like viruses and worms) as well as make sure that they never come back.

·         Firewalls: Firewalls are a great tool to make sure that all outside threats are thoroughly scanned. This will block all of our networks from outside transmissions and will not let any of it in unless it is programmed to.

·         Quarantines: Unfortunately for us, no matter how much software we have, there is still a chance that a virus or Trojan may sneak in under the radar. If it does, this is where we will need the help of quarantines. Quarantines will isolate any files or programs in our system that doesn’t seem to belong there and warn us of its presence. That way we can decide whether or not it is something that we need or need to remove.

Our computer security team will be able to use these tools as well as their knowledge of computer science to keep us protected from anything that will come our way.

Two-Player Game

We can set up as many firewalls and security checkpoints as the internet will allow us, but when it comes to protecting our customers, we can’t do it alone. Identity theft is unfortunately becoming more and more common now-a-days, so in order to make sure that our customers are prepared, we’re going to ask our customers to enter 2 very important pieces of information when they log onto our website. They are going to need their password which must consist of numbers, letters, and at least one punctuation mark as well as a 6 digit personal identification number (PIN). When most people pick a PIN, they tend to choose numbers that are significant to them, like a birthday or part of their social security number. Instead of having people use their personal information, which will make it a lot easier for someone to steal their identity; we will assign them a random PIN number with no significance to it. This will also help when someone forgets their password. Rather than someone just sending us their email address and then sending them their password, we’re going to add an extra step to that. If someone forgets their password, they can click on a link that will take them to a page where they have to answer a security question as well as enter their email address that is attached to their account. We will then send them a link that is active for only 48 hours where they will have to enter their 6 digit as well as answer a second security question in order to be able to change their password. If someone receives an email that says that their password is being changed and they didn’t authorize it, their profile will be frozen, put into quarantine, and thoroughly scanned. Once we have located the threat and gotten rid of it, the control will be returned to the original owner.

As time goes on, we will constantly be checking our system for threats as well as searching for new and effective ways to keep our information as well as our customers’ safe and sound.