User guide

Introduction to Information Security
74 Check Point Safe@Office User Guide
In order for a security policy be effective, it must be accompanied by the following
measures:
• Awareness - A security policy must be accompanied by steps taken to increase
the employees' awareness of security issues. If employees are unaware of a
security policy rule and the reason for it, they are likely to break it.
• Enforcement - To enforce a security policy, an organization can take various
measures, both human and electronic. For example:
• Installing surveillance cameras in strategic locations throughout the
organization
• Positioning human guards who have the authority to prevent other people
from entering the premises or certain areas on the premises
• Installing alarms that are triggered upon certain conditions
• Using magnetic identification tags to enforce and log access permissions to
different areas on the premises
• Using “red phones” to encrypt highly confidential voice phone calls
• Updating - A security policy is a living thing that must be updated from time to
time according to changing situations.
Unfortunately, even when a security policy is accompanied by these measures, its
effectiveness is limited against a person with malicious intent.
Computer and Network Security
A great deal of an organization's existing information is processed and stored electronically
by single (standalone) computers or computer networks. Therefore, an attack on an
organization's computers or computer networks can result in extensive information theft or
abuse. However, computers and computer networks today are not just tools used to store
information; they are the heart of an organization's operations and crucial to its
communication and business transactions. For example:
• Nowadays, most of an organization's communication and business transactions
are conducted via email (regardless of the organization's size).
• Online stores process orders and supply products over the Internet.
• Emerging technology today allows an organization's branch offices to
communicate, share data, and even establish low-cost VoIP (Voice over IP)
communications, rather then using the traditional phone system.