RealSecurity

As soon as there were networks there were people using them to gain unauthorized access remote systems. Today, networks are everywhere and the Internet is the ultimate network with more and more systems becoming assimilated. What once was just computers communicating over the Internet has now expanded to include phones, game platforms, entertainment systems, and even home security systems with no end in sight. The growing use of a global network represents significant opportunities to businesses and consumers.

Although information security has gained unparalleled business-level attention in the last few years, people remain enamored by hacker tools and technical tricks of the past. Promoting security based on fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) unfortunately remains as the proverbial black hole of the security universe potentially stifling the expansion of security in the business.

With the increasing demand from the business to better utilize IT and vast amounts of information more effectively, web services and service oriented architecture (SOA) solutions are the new frontier of the Internet. The ability to comprehensively leverage information and systems to drive competitive services and products through enhancing customer, partner, and employee collaboration is the impetus for the explosion of custom application development in the 21st century. However, this new business approach has become the breeding ground for sophisticated attacks with a broader potential for impact. Meanwhile the hacker community is significantly more organized, well armed, and are seeking new methods to acquire revenue of their own.

As far back as I can remember I’ve always heard the axiom, “Hackers are always ahead of you.” It’s a saying that has the potential to release you from the torment of insecurity, or torture your character. The former finds solace in knowing that there is nothing they can do to get ahead of the prognosticating hacker. However, the latter tend to believe hackers are just not that smart.