Security Basics

The term security covers a lot of ground, and Windows Server 2003 uses a wide range of methods and mechanisms to implement security. But before you can evaluate those mechanisms, you need to know what a good security system is designed to accomplish. For all the protocols, passwords, and secret keys, security revolves around three basic concepts:

  • Authentication Confirming the identity of a person or entity before allowing accesses to a resource

  • Data protection Ensuring the privacy and integrity of transmitted or stored data

  • Access control Restricting the access of data and resources to privileged users

In addition to these three security mainstays, two other security features are discussed in this section: auditing and nonrepudiation. ...

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