The National Library and Archives Highlights
Data Protection Methods on Computers
The National Library and Archives, in collaboration with the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), organized a virtual lecture titled “Protecting Your Computer”. The lecture was one of a series of lectures and events aimed at maintaining information security on laptops.
The lecture was delivered by Mr. Abdulla Al Zarooni from the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority. He spoke about the dangers threatening data stored on computers, starting with viruses. He explained that these programs, such as the “Trojan Horse” virus and other spyware, are designed to harm computers or steal copies of the data saved on them. Other threats include identity theft for financial gain, spam emails and malicious software.
The lecture also addressed the risks of external storage devices, such as hard disk drives (HDDs), and methods of connecting computers to external devices (USBs) to facilitate data transfer. He highlighted the dangers of ransomware and other harmful programs.
The lecture then shifted to methods of protecting the computer from threats through various means, such as firewall that prevents unauthorized incoming communications, updating the operating system to correct known vulnerabilities, updating programs and browsers, and using known and trusted antivirus programs to protect the computer from damage.
The lecture highlighted that a computer can be protected from threats by using various methods, including backups, complex passwords, encrypting sensitive files so that only the user can read them, downloading applications from trusted sources, and the importance of maintaining backups to restore data in case of loss or damage.
Al Zarooni provided tips accompanied by live examples, showed some awareness videos, recommended free effective programs, and spoke in detail about the characteristics of strong passwords that are difficult to crack and ways to save them.