System protection in the operating systems- Zoefact

System protection in the operating systems (OS) actually refers to a mechanism that restricts the access of the resources specified by a computer system to programs, processes, or users. It requires the security of computer resources such as Processor, software, memory, etc. As a helper to multiprogramming operating system, users should take security, so that several users can safely share a common logical namespace such as directory or data (file). Security and protection can be achieved by maintaining honesty, confidentiality, and availability in the operating system (OS). It is important to protect the device from unauthorized access, viruses, worms, etc.

Need of System Protection :-

• To prevent access of unauthorized users and
• To ensure that resources are used only as specified policy by each active program or mechanism in the scheme,

To improve reliability by detecting latent errors.

Note that only the frameworks for implementing policies and maintaining stable systems are supported by security systems. It’s up to administrators and users to successfully enforce such processes.

The function of security is to provide a mechanism that implements policies that determine the computer system’s use of resources. At the time of system creation, some policies are defined, some are designed by system management and some are defined by system users to protect their own files and programs. A threat is a program that is malicious in nature and causes the device to experience adverse effects. Some of the threats are:-

Virus: Small fragments of code inserted in a device are common viruses. They are very risky and can corrupt data, delete information, crash systems, etc. By replicating themselves as needed, they can also spread further.

Trojan Horse: A Trojan horse is able to secretly access a system’s login data. These can then be used by a malicious user to access the system as a harmless being and wreak havoc.

Trap Door: A trap door is a violation of security that may be present in a device without the users’ knowledge. It can be abused by malicious people to damage the data or files in a system.

Worm: Through using its resources to extreme levels, a worm will kill a machine. It can create several copies that assert all resources and do not enable them to be accessed by any other processes. In this way, a worm can shut down a whole network.

Denial of Service: These kinds (types) of attacks do not cause a device to be accessed by legitimate users. It overwhelms the device with requests so that it is overloaded and other users cannot operate properly.

The various techniques that can provide protection and security for various computer systems are –

Authentication: It deals with defining every consumer in the system and ensuring that they are who they claim to be. The operating system ensures that before they enter the system, all the users are authenticated.

One Time Password: For authentication purposes, these passwords provide a lot of protection. Any time a user wants to access the system, a one-time password can be created exclusively for a login. It is not possible to use it more than once.

It is possible to interpret a machine as a set of processes and objects. The need to know principle states that only those objects that it requires to accomplish its mission should be available to a process and furthermore only in the modes for which it needs access and only during the time frame when it needs access.

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