Network Security and Privacy: How It Connects

 Throughout the past few weeks, I have explored a lot of terms related to information technology, from hardware to network security, but there are a couple of terms I really want to focus on for this post: network security and privacy. These terms are widely used across the world, especially when it comes to data for employees or customers, and can have a lot of companies' reputation at risk if they fail to provide these things. 

How It Connects 

Of course, these terms have been around since computers and the internet have been around, and became even more prevalent as more and more companies have moved to using online resources for company and consumer-facing reasons. Without this type of attention to the matter, the internet could have become a wild place and, in some instances, scarier than it has been for some people. 

As for components, this can go both ways. There are tools that can be used that utilize RAM and storage space to download and use (Sinchana et.al, 2019), but on the other hand, if there is a lack of security and privacy the computer could be rendered useless across all of its components. Even then, all cyberattacks such as trojan horses or worms use computers resources to execute the code within the files used to hack into a computer. 

When it comes to programming languages, these tools use some form of coding language, such as Java or Python, so the user can utilize their different use cases. For example, Wireshark (a packet analysis tool), is programmed mainly in the programming language C (Sinchana et.al, 2019). Along with that, these tools all have executable files in order for the program to run and boot onto the computer to use.

Every one of the tools that I researched for this all were used as applications or "apps" to help users perform all sorts of functions. Besides Wireshark, there are tools that help map out a network (NMAP), or even scan a URL for anything malicious hidden within the HTML code of it (like Zed Attack Proxy or ZAP).

Databases, very simply, are kind of the end-goal for a lot of cyberattacks, because there is a lot of information stores within these databases that cybercriminals can steal or hold for ransom for a ton of money. Without the proper use of these tools and protocols that many cybersecurity organizations and departments use now, these databases would be left wide open for anybody to take and use for their own malicious reasons. 

Along with that, these topics influence how a lot of companies set up their network infrastructure and management, with network security almost becoming a staple with how these are set up. Companies like Cisco, for example, who provide tools for network management and cloud computing, also provide a tool for cybersecurity known as Cisco SecureX, that helps secure your network. 

In conclusion, network security and privacy are important for any company to follow, and should always be at the forefront of anyone's mind when setting up any type of internet infrastructure or even using a network itself. 

References

Sinchana, K., Sinchana, C., Gururaj, H. L., & Sunil Kumar, B. R. (2019).

          Performance Evaluation and Analysis of various Network Security tools. 2019

          International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES),

          Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES), 2019 International Conference On,

          644–650. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCES45898.2019.9002531

Yu, Y. (2024). Computer Network Privacy Security Technology Based on Cloud

          Computing. 2024 5th International Conference for Emerging Technology (INCET),

          Emerging Technology (INCET), 2024 5th International Conference For, 1–4.

          https://doi.org/10.1109/INCET61516.2024.10593132

Bhat, S., Antara, Sharma, R., Vijayabaskar, S., Jain, A., & Thummala, V. R.

          (2025). An Integrated Approach to Network Security: Combining Cryptography and

          Intrusion Detection. 2025 International Conference on Pervasive Computational

          Technologies (ICPCT), Pervasive Computational Technologies (ICPCT), 2025

          International Conference On, 223–228.

          https://doi.org/10.1109/ICPCT64145.2025.10939222