Scrawny to Tennis Fit

In 1985, computer counter intelligence was a mere seedling with little history. Stoll’s work in this area served as a pioneer in the area of internet security. His methods proved to be quite exhaustive in nature as he followed the hacker throughout the whole experience. With the innovation in last 25 years, there has been a large improvement in the speed of internet connections. Back in the 1990s, the most popular type of connection was a 28.8kb/56kb dial-up modem, now a user can enjoy speeds averaging 1.5Mb. As the technology improves for connecting onto the internet, internet security has also made significant progress since the days of Stoll and his 1200 baud connections.

Improvements that have been made in the area of internet security include the establishment of technology companies aimed toward creating sophisticated hardware and software that addresses the issue of internet security. Companies such as Cisco, Oracle, and BlueCoat have emerged as highly profitable businesses due to the increase in the necessity of protecting data stored on networks. The requirements to become a System Administrators has also changed in the last 25 years. New System Administrators are required to become well experienced in the operating systems that they will be monitoring. In the case of the Windows operating system, a competent systems administrator should have obtained a MCSA, MCSE, or MCITP. In the case of Linux, the Red Hat RHCE certification is required.

As with improvements of computer technology, hackers also improve in the their methods to attack networks with malicious software. A whole new industry has emerged to provide software to protect users from viruses. Companies in this domain, such as Symantec and McAfee have also become quite profitable. Providing counter attacks toward hackers to protect data has been an important factor in commerce. However, the hackers will not cease to obtain data and information that well help pilot their causes. Internet security companies will have to stay on their tails and remain a few steps ahead.