SECURITY ISSUES-WELCOMEITBOOK

SHARING OF RESOURCES

In computing, a shared resource or network share is a device or piece of information on a computer that can be remotely accessed from another computer, typically via a local area network or an enterprise Intranet, transparently as if it were a resource in the local machine.

Examples are shared file access (also known as disk sharing and folder sharing), shared printer access (printer sharing), shared scanner access, etc. The shared resource is called a shared disk (also known as mounted disk), shared drive volume, shared folder,shared file, shared document, shared printer or shared scanner.

The term file sharing traditionally means shared file access, especially in the context of operating systems and LAN and Intranetservices, for example in Microsoft Windows documentation. Though, as BitTorrent and similar applications became available in the early 2000s, the term file sharing increasingly has become associated with peer-to-peer file sharing over the Internet.

Shared file and printer access require an operating system on the client that supports access to resources on a server, an operating system on the server that supports access to its resources from a client, and an application layer (in the four or five layer TCP/IP reference model) file sharing protocol and transport layer protocol to provide that shared access. Modern operating systems for personal computers include distributed file systems that support file sharing, while hand-held computing devices sometimes require additional software for shared file access.

SECURITY ISSUES

A network share can become a security liability when access to the shared files is gained (often by devious means) by those who should not have access to them. Many computer worms have spread through network shares. Network shares would consume extensive communication capacity in non-broadband network access. Because of that, shared printer and file access is normally prohibited in firewalls from computers outside the local area network or enterprise Intranet. However, by means of virtual private networks(VPN), shared resources can securely be made available for certified users outside the local network.

A network share is typically made accessible to other users by marking any folder or file as shared, or by changing the file system permissions or access rights in the properties of the folder. For example, a file or folder may be accessible only to one user (the owner), to system administrators, to a certain group of users to public, i.e. to all logged in users. The exact procedure varies by platform.

In operating system editions for homes and small offices, there may be a special pre-shared folder that is accessible to all users with a user account and password on the local computer. Network access to the pre-shared folder can be turned on. In the Windows XP Home Edition operating system, english version.