Topic17

Topic 17

 * Vulnerability of networks to intrusion** by Isaku Oba

Over the years the increase in digital technology has succeeded in making the internet much more sophisticated beyond the imagination of the people who created the model of today’s internet. However, these revolutionary developments in the network have come with significant side effects.

The user friendly environment and the many attractive services the internet offers have been used by many people in developed countries and have succeeded in connecting huge numbers of totally unrelated people who do not even live close to each other. Also still it is these three of the most obvious benefits that have resulted in making our personal information vulnerable towards possible ‘thefts’ from others.

The first aspect, the connection of many people anonymous to each other has given skilled computer programmers a reach towards personal information. In order to steal personal information without the internet, it is required for the stealer to actually get to the source of the information, but in the internet, the dimension of distance has become almost nonexistent. This is extremely important because without the internet the stealer actually has to come in physical constant to the direct source of information. In this case the stealer leaves a trail behind him, which will allow the victim to find out who stole the information. When we are connected to the internet through our server which contains our personal information, it is like going into a building carrying a briefcase full of our information, making us extremely vulnerable to theft.

It is also impossible to neglect that the internet connecting us to almost all the people in the world will make everyone in connected to the internet, even those who have never met the stealer, or even live on the other side of the world. Therefore if a person can design computer programs which can some how extract information from a ‘trap’ that lets him view information through our server, he can steal information from anyone, anytime, and anywhere. This raises the ethical issue of the power held by these programmers, which leaves the fate of our information to the ethical values of these programmers. We will have to take more caution in our life using the internet, for example not entering suspicious sites as they may be traps and taking precautions in our email as there might be Trojans inside them.

The vulnerability of personal information obviously does benefit the creator of the technology, the programmers, who may sell the information they gain or use it to create other benefits for himself: but another group that takes advantage of the suffering of normal internet users who fearing loss of information is the network security companies. The internet users will now live in fear of people looking at their personal information. This will cause the demand for programs that prevent this to rise, creating more benefit to companies which make products such as anti virus programs, Trojan detectors, fishing site scanners, and trap searchers.

The internet is a sophisticated technology that connects the whole world together. What we cant forget is that all technology comes with its tradeoffs.