Computers allow data to be more easily transported, copied, and manipulated. Once in, they can perform false financial transactions, steal secrets, manipulate records, or sabotage the computer systems themselves. Several approaches for securing data will be discussed including encryption, firewalls, and other activities that improve the security of enterprise data. Errors that occur when data are stored or manipulated incorrectly, or because the software manipulating the data has errors, have plagued industry since the introduction of the computer to manage information. The number of data-driven errors is increasing, and the financial and personal costs have yet to be determined.
Bad data produces damage.
This damage can become increasingly destructive when the systems are connected to networks. The Internet can easily replicate an error millions of times within the blink of the eye. Several issues will be discussed including how to assign responsibility for data integrity and how to put practices in place that improve data integrity. Several Case Studies will be explored with interactive activities. Dr. Gail Miles has been the Department Chair of Computing Sciences at Lenoir-Rhyne College since 1985.