Security in Cyberland

Security continues to be the foremost subject in this week's news. Major companies from Cisco to Microsoft are patching their products for known security problems. Email clients continue to be under attack as a major effort is underway to exploit system weaknesses. With the increased popularity of computers and the Internet, our focus has shifted from enjoyment to management and damage control. Unfortunately, there are too many Internet and computer users that have neither the time nor desire to learn the intricacies of securing their computers against all the bad things that threaten them. Sadly, their inability or unwillingness to keep up with these issues make the rest of us more susceptible to attacks. The Internet worked best when all computers connected to it were essentially at the same level of protection. Problems became more substantial once the level of user experienced dropped below a certain point. This was compounded by the fact that inexperienced users far outnumbered experienced "geeks" that served as an "on-the-job training" force. Worse yet, programming languages became so easy to use that many took to coding as a hobby previously tackled by only the geekiest of geeks. And the new programs, whether virus, spyware, or otherwise, are even more readily available for others to use by simply tapping onto the Internet. What an irony -- the Internet is used to attack the Internet! It is up to experienced users and those willing to learn and to spread the word, to do our part to protect this valuable resource. The way I see it, it comes down to this: we need to care for others and share our knowledge and experience. The time for being isolated cyber-islands has long passed. Unless we band together to protect ourselves, as a community, we will continue to be at the mercy of those that have joined to destroy one of the best things to happen in the last few centuries.