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the spread of malware. Malware includes different types of applications such as spyware and adware. In recent years, the cost to remedy malware infections has skyrocketed in the global business. In most cases, the malware is downloaded from the internet and installed by individual users that are unaware of the possible impact of what they are doing.

There are several ways to address the integrity of information. The most important method is through end user education. The second most important thing an administrator can do is to ensure that only the appropriate users have access to data, and that the level of access is appropriate. For example, HR policies may be available to all employees on the network, but those employees may not require access to modify or delete the information in those files. One lesser-used method to protect the integrity of data is the usage of file "versioning".

As the network administrator, you must develop and distribute policies to all business users to ensure they are aware of their impact on the overall system. This is normally called an "Acceptable Usage Policy". All employees should be educated on the appropriate usage of their computer for business use only, and the employees should also be made aware of the possible outcome of inappropriate usage. In situations where numerous problems have occurred, and with the concurrence of senior management, you may wish to curtail or eliminate the authority of users to install software packages that may cause issues on the network.

The last way to assist in protecting data integrity is in the implementation of file versioning. Versioning is called "shadow copies" in some systems, "revision control" in others; however, you should look in your server's operating system for the appropriate method to configure. This can save you a great deal of time and effort as you can quickly access earlier information to see if inappropriate changes have been made, as well as reverting to the correct information in the case that illegitimate changes have actually occurred.

Availability:

The most obvious role of the network administrator is ensuring that all servers are running and that the network is stable. Also, nothing is more noticeable to an end user than the message that "Server such-and-such is not available".

To appropriately protect your systems, you should ensure that you have contingencies for all common points-of-failure, and that you implement plans to mitigate a failure. Simple steps include

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