Important documents are usually placed in a safe and are not scattered all over the place. The safe definitely has locks which you never forget to fasten soon after you finish what it is that you have to do with the contents of the safe. You may sometimes ask yourself why you even bother to go through all that hassle just for those few important documents.
Why? Well the reason why you take all those security steps is for confidentiality. Those documents contain information that is meant to be kept private and in a secure location. The information should only ever be available to be people who have a need for it - not just a curiosity. Your job is to keep the document safe and free from abuse.
Now compare this to your own computer at home or in work. Your computer also contains a lot of private and/or sensitive information - whether it's your or somebody else's. You wouldn't let some random stranger sit down and start accessing your files would you?
ACLs or access control lists are usually used to establish control in a computer environment. ACLs clearly identify who can access a certain file or folder as a whole. They can also be used to set permissions so that only certain people could read or edit a file for example. ACLS vary from one computer and computer network to the next but without them everyone could access everyone else's files.
As an extra layer of security using a file encryption program would be a good idea. Basically an encryption program takes information from a format you can read and understand and garbles it all up. Looking at encrypted information is like trying to read hieroglyphics while you're standing upside down in a bath filled with tar - yes it's impossible.
The only way anyone can read encrypted information is to have it decrypted which is done with a passcode or password. Most current encryption programs use military grade file encryption which means it's pretty secure.
Do you need to encrypt your data? This is down to how important your files are. Encryption is now something that all businesses should consider - especially for customer data records. All those Government laptops you hear about that were stolen from cars outside offices...you can bet that 90% of them were unencrypted data which is why there was such a panic.
If you're looking for a pretty solid encryption program that won't cost you a cent then check out TrueCrypt - these guys are making a name for themselves in Opensource cryptology services.
Do you know how many risks exist online? Without proper computer security software your computer will be attacked or infested within 2 hours of being online! Get more internet and computer security tips here -> http://www.cpusecurity.com/
