A company’s most important asset next to its people is its
information.
This information includes intellectual property,
company
financial information, confidential employee information,
customer information, and so much more. Company
information
may be stored in databases, spreadsheets, flat files,
and so on. Loss of company information can be very costly and
in some cases devastating to a company. In many cases, this
devastation
can not only come from the lost information but
also be just the fact that information was lost. When a company
loses information, the company may also lose its reputation. For
example, if customer
credit card information is lost, customers
may lose confidence that the company is safe to do business
with. We’ve all seen in the news where companies have suffered
a breach and customer card information was stolen. How eager
were you to do business with that company after hearing about
the loss? Probably not very eager, right? It can take months, even
years, for a company to gain back the confidence of its customers.
In some cases, companies suffer permanent and irreparable
damage. They never fully gain back the customer base they once
had. As an administrator, you must do everything possible to
protect
your company’s information. This protecting of company
information is called information security.
It's no longer just a buzz word: "Security" is an important part of your job as a Systems Administrator. Most security books are aimed at security professionals, but Security for System Administrators is written for System Administrators. This book covers the basics of securing your system environment as well as security concepts and how these concepts can be implemented practically using common tools and applications. Whether you are new to this profession or have been in the field a while, you'll find valuable information in each chapter. The book's examples will focus on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, but many concepts are platform agnostic.
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Take all the confusion out of security including: network attacks, system failures, social networking, and even audits
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Learn how to apply and implement general security concepts
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Identify and solve situations within your network and organization