Internet Security Essay -- Essays Papers

Internet Security Security is crucial to any flourishing society such as the one in which we Americans live today. Imagine if there was no law enforcement in New York City. No one except criminals would dare to walk down the streets. People would live in fear every day. No one would work and no one could enjoy nature and the outdoors. We would all barricade ourselves indoors, only daring to venture outside into the dangerous world when we absolutely needed to. Everything would be different. Thinking of the Internet as a society, or a global community, one can also apply this notion of the importance of security. Imagine if everyone had access to all the files on every individual's and every business's computers. It would be the same as if all stores in a city were open to the public 24 hours, 7 days a week with all merchandise available for free, and all citizens' homes, credit cards, family heirlooms, etc. as well. It would be anarchy, it would be disastrous. In America today, citizens generally feel safe. We feel safe not only from our neighbors, but also from attacks by foreign countries. We have the most advanced military defense systems, and we've proven ourselves to be a powerhouse in recent years like in the Persian Gulf War. For a while, many of us perhaps even felt like America was invulnerable. On September 11 of this year 2001, we learned otherwise. We learned that America did have security holes. We learned first-hand about the horrors that criminals could bestow to us as a nation. Similarly, throughout the last 20 or so years, the Internet has harnessed a wide variety of criminals committing new kinds of crimes. What's more, everyone is at risk, the rich and the poor, m... ...5(4), 161-185. Popular print information source: Bansal, Parveen. (2001, November). Updating the Hole in the Wall. The Banker, 151, 81. Electronic scholarly journal article: Schultza, Eugene E, Proctorb, Robert W., Lienb, Mei-Ching, & Salvendy, Gavriel. (October, 2001). Computers & Security. Retrieved December 8, 2001 from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science%3f_ob=JournalURL&_cdi=5870&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=0&md5=7ad5f679d398b70e02e99cc968692dda Reliable multimedia video/audio online: The Morning Show: Internet Security. Retrieved December 10, 2001 from http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm%3fPrgDate=2%2F16%2F2000&PrgID=3 Reliable web site: National Institute of Standards and Technology. (January 19, 2001). Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Fact Sheet. Retrieved December 8, 2001 from http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/aes/aesfact.html