CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND In primitive times, men lived more freely with each other, in little groups which later emerged into communities. They did not live in fear of being attacked nor do they think of attacking each other. However, as the population of men grew, men began to scatter and travel to different places and in the course of their movement began to encroach on other peole whom they meet and. Therefore some gathered even due to their evil nature and began to attack fellow men to loot whatever they can lay hold on without suffering to get it. Thus we hear of the bandits in wilderness places. Even the holy bible records that during the time when Saul was pursuing David, the people that gathered unto David were bandits, from which he formed a ferocious group that survived by attacking and looting other tribes. Thus man is faced 2 with the duty of protecting what he treasures as there is bound to be attack or laundering of such treasured goods whatever it is. This has given rise to the idea of security (Adibe, 2005). Even in African societies, we see local chiefs having security men sometimes called royal guards protecting the chief or King from any form of attack. We also see this form of protection wherever there is treasure. Men ensure that their treasure is protected from attack; as such there is a quest in man to protect what he have, knowing well that it is bound to come under attak or looting if not guarded (Wilgersworth, 1987). In modern times, the currency of which activities drives on is information. Information is the bedrock of any moving organization.
The new century with the advancement of technology has come to recognize information as the most treasured facility in any organization or society. Everything thrives on given 3 information. However, while some information is for public consumption, some which are considered sensitive are kept secret or secured as making it public can trigger the downfall of the inventors or people who have such information ( ). With the advancement of time and advancement in technology, man has invented the computer as the best device for storage of information. This information which means a lot to man, while it is for human use is not always allowed to everybody as some of them are meant to be kept secret (Aneke, 2008). These classes of information which are secret, man has come to see that just like men attacked each other in past, is accessed illegally by unauthorized persons. This we see in cases where a person’s account is illegally manipulated without his knowledge. Thus, men have come to invent security measures to curtail such ailment. Take for example in 1994; over a hundred intrusions were made by 4 unidentified hackers into the Rome Laboratory, the U.S. Air Force’s main command and research facility. Using Trojan horse viruses, hackers were able to obtain unrestricted access to Rome’s networking systems and remove traces of their activities ( ).
The intruders were able to obtain classified files such as air tasking order systems data and further more able to penetrate connected networks of National Aeronuatics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, some Defense contractors, and other private sector organizations, by posing as trusted Rome center user. Now a technique called Ethical hack testing is used to remediate this issues. With the advancement in technology, it is no longer new for us to see systems that are making use of security lock in a system; there is now automated lock security system, since automation itself is a cryptogram intelligible only to the few whom can 5 understand it. But as technology spread, automated lock security system appears soon after. This is true for the society in which we find ourselves today.
Automated Security Lock is a system which enables an authority to control access to areas and resources in a given physical facility or computer based information system. An access control system, within the field of physical security, is generally seen as the second layer in the security of a physical structure. Automated lock security simply means the act of protecting something against attack; security is done as a result of safety (Demmy, 1989). This is done to avoid the misuse of information relating to people of corporate bodies, whereby we protect our computer and data against unauthorized disclosure, modification and also secure the system 6 against virus and damage that might be caused by external force. During the ancient times, record keeping was done by means of primitive notches cut into wooden stick, on bone fragments or marks pressed in clay tables. They soon improved with the development of papyrus and calamus pen. The ancient record keeping was well in hand and reached its peak in Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The census of 1890 turned out to be especially significant in the evolution of recorded machine processible form, for this census. Harman Hollevith developed the punched card as a unit record and invented machinery for processing these records some 60 years later, the first electronic computer was constructed and their application in record keeping system ushered in the era of computerization. From this humble beginning of antiquity, record keeping has grown into gigantic dimensions with the advent of computer network, conferencing through computers and so on. These have increased the vulnerability of data both in stored form during communication to wire tapping; saving and accessibility. Another reason is that complexity of interaction of individual with their governments. With these new dimension dangers surfaced private and confidential records could easily become public property. Thus endangering sensitive data and information of huge organizations like Banks, Government Parastatals among others. A solution had to be found to this problem of insecurity of data. A common technique is to provide automated lock security to sensitive information.
