Analysis of data protection in OS

Protection refers to a mechanism which controls the access of programs,

processes, or users to the resources defined by a computer system. We can take
protection as a helper to multi programming operating system, so that many users
might safely share a common logical name space such as directory or files.

Need of Protection:
 To prevent the access of unauthorized users and
 To ensure that each active programs or processes in the system uses
resources only as the stated policy,
 To improve reliability by detecting latent errors.

Role of Protection:
The role of protection is to provide a mechanism that implement policies
which defines the uses of resources in the computer system. Some policies are
defined at the time of design of the system, some are designed by management of the
system and some are defined by the users of the system to protect their own files and
programs.
Every application has different policies for use of the resources and they may change
over time so protection of the system is not only concern of the designer of the
operating system. Application programmer should also design the protection
mechanism to protect their system against misuse.
Policy is different from mechanism. Mechanisms determine how something will be
done and policies determine what will be done.Policies are changed over time and
place to place. Separation of mechanism and policy is important for the flexibility of
the system.
Protection and security requires that computer resources such as CPU, softwares,
memory etc. are protected. This extends to the operating system as well as the data in
the system. This can be done by ensuring integrity, confidentiality and availability in
the operating system. The system must be protect against unauthorized access, viruses,
worms etc.
Protection and Security Methods
The different methods that may provide protect and security for different computer
systems are −

Authentication
This deals with identifying each user in the system and making sure they are who
they claim to be. The operating system makes sure that all the users are authenticated
before they access the system. The different ways to make sure that the users are
authentic are:
  Username/ Password
Each user has a distinct username and password combination and they
need to enter it correctly before they can access the system.
 User Key/ User Card
The users need to punch a card into the card slot or use they individual
key on a keypad to access the system.
 User Attribute Identification
Different user attribute identifications that can be used are fingerprint,
eye retina etc. These are unique for each user and are compared with the
existing samples in the database. The user can only access the system if
there is a match.

One Time Password

These passwords provide a lot of security for authentication purposes. A one time
password can be generated exclusively for a login every time a user wants to enter the
system. It cannot be used more than once. The various ways a one time password can
be implemented are −
 Random Numbers
The system can ask for numbers that correspond to alphabets that are pre
arranged. This combination can be changed each time a login is required.

 Secret Key
A hardware device can create a secret key related to the user id for login.
This key can change each time.

Various needs of protection in the operating system are as follows:

1. There may be security risks like unauthorized reading, writing, modification, or

preventing the system from working effectively for authorized users.
2. It helps to ensure data security, process security, and program security against
unauthorized user access or program access.
3. It is important to ensure no access rights' breaches, no viruses, no unauthorized
access to the existing data.
4. Its purpose is to ensure that only the systems' policies access programs,
resources, and data.

Goals of Protection in Operating System

Various goals of protection in the operating system are as follows:

 1. The policies define how processes access the computer system's resources,
such as the CPU, memory, software, and even the operating system. It is the
responsibility of both the operating system designer and the app programmer.
Although, these policies are modified at any time.
2. Protection is a technique for protecting data and processes from harmful or
intentional infiltration. It contains protection policies either established by
itself, set by management or imposed individually by programmers to ensure
that their programs are protected to the greatest extent possible.
3. It also provides a multiprogramming OS with the security that its users expect
when sharing common space such as files or directories.

AD

Role of Protection in Operating System

Its main role is to provide a mechanism for implementing policies that define the use
of resources in a computer system. Some rules are set during the system's design,
while others are defined by system administrators to secure their files and programs.

Every program has distinct policies for using resources, and these policies may change
over time. Therefore, system security is not the responsibility of the system's designer,
and the programmer must also design the protection technique to protect their system
against infiltration.

Domain of Protection

Various domains of protection in operating system are as follows:

1. The protection policies restrict each process's access to its resource handling. A
process is obligated to use only the resources necessary to fulfil its task within
the time constraints and in the mode in which it is required. It is a process's
protected domain.
2. Processes and objects are abstract data types in a computer system, and these
objects have operations that are unique to them. A domain component is
defined as <object, {set of operations on object}>.
Distributed network firewall using software-defined networking

One way to improve protection in virtualized environments is to segment the

network in a way that allows VMs to talk only to the specific systems required to
function. For example, if your application doesn't need to connect with the Internet,
you can partition it off, eliminating those systems as targets from external attackers.
The software-defined networking (SDN) in Windows Server 2016 includes a
distributed network firewall that allows you to dynamically create the security policies
that can protect your applications from attacks coming from inside or outside a
network. This distributed network firewall adds layers to your security by enabling
you to isolate your applications in the network. Policies can be applied anywhere
across your virtual network infrastructure, isolating VM-to-VM traffic, VM-to-host
traffic, or VM-to-Internet traffic where necessary – either for individual systems that
may have been compromised or programmatically across multiple subnets. Windows
Server 2016 software-defined networking capabilities also enable you to route or
mirror incoming traffic to non-Microsoft virtual appliances. For example, you could
choose to send all your email traffic through a Barracuda virtual appliance for
additional spam filtering protection. This allows you to easily layer in additional
security both on-premises or in the cloud. Even the best endpoint defenses may be
breached eventually, as cyberattacks become more sophisticated and targeted. Two
capabilities can be used to help with potential breach detection - Windows Defender
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA).

Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) helps you detect, investigate,
and respond to advanced attacks and data breaches on your networks. The types of
data breach the GDPR expects you to protect against through technical security
measures to ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal
data and processing systems.

Among the key benefits of Windows Defender ATP are the following:

 Detecting the undetectable. Sensors built deep into the operating system
kernel, Windows security experts, and unique optics from over 1 billion
machines and signals across all Microsoft services.

 Built in, not bolted on. Agentless, with high performance and minimal
impact, cloud-powered; easy management with no deployment.

 Single pane of glass for Windows security. Explore 6 months of rich,

machine-timeline, unifying security events from Windows Defender ATP,
Windows Defender Antivirus and Windows Defender Device Guard.

 Power of the Microsoft graph. Leverages the Microsoft Intelligence

Security Graph to integrate detection and exploration with Office 365
ATP subscription, to track back and respond to attacks.
Data security is the practice of protecting digital information from unauthorized
access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle. It’s a concept that
encompasses every aspect of information security from the physical security of
hardware and storage devices to administrative and access controls, as well as the
logical security of software applications. It also includes organizational policies and
procedures.

When properly implemented, robust data security strategies will protect an

organization’s information assets against cybercriminal activities, but they also guard
against insider threats and human error, which remains among the leading causes of
data breaches today. Data security involves deploying tools and technologies that
enhance the organization’s visibility into where its critical data resides and how it is
used. Ideally, these tools should be able to apply protections like encryption, data
masking, and redaction of sensitive files, and should automate reporting to streamline
audits and adhering to regulatory requirements.

Business challenges
Digital transformation is profoundly altering every aspect of how today’s businesses
operate and compete. The sheer volume of data that enterprises create, manipulate,
and store is growing, and drives a greater need for data governance. In addition,
computing environments are more complex than they once were, routinely spanning
the public cloud, the enterprise data center, and numerous edge devices ranging from
Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to robots and remote servers. This complexity creates
an expanded attack surface that’s more challenging to monitor and secure.
At the same time, consumer awareness of the importance of data privacy is on the rise.
Fueled by increasing public demand for data protection initiatives, multiple new
privacy regulations have recently been enacted, including Europe’s General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA).
These rules join longstanding data security provisions like the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), protecting electronic health records, and
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), protecting shareholders in public companies from
accounting errors and financial fraud. With maximum fines in the millions of dollars,
every enterprise has a strong financial incentive to ensure it maintains compliance.

The business value of data has never been greater than it is today. The loss of trade
secrets or intellectual property (IP) can impact future innovations and profitability. So,
trustworthiness is increasingly important to consumers, with a full 75% reporting that
they will not purchase from companies they don’t trust to protect their data.