The Internet: History & Security
The chart above shows the
percentage of internet users in different regions of the world. What is the
internet, and how did it get started? The concept first got started by a United
States government agency called the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA),
they created the beginning of the internet in 1958, and called their first
model the APRANET. The idea behind the internet was to develop a method of
communication between all computers. By using a network scheme with multiple
paths, connection would not be disrupted in the event of an attack from the
Soviet Union. After the standard code (ASCII) of communication was created,
allowing computers from different manufacturers to exchange data; the first
successful message to be sent over the internet was sent from researchers at
UCLA, to researchers at Stanford University in California 1969. The version of
the internet that allows the general public to view HTML pages is call the World
Wide Web and should not be confused with the internet itself. The world wide
web is simply a subset of the internet that allows data to be exchanged via
hypertext transfer protocol (http). This subset is the most commonly used and
was released in 1991. Since the creation of the internet, millions of domains
have been created to send information from computer to computer. Making the
internet the #1 form of communication in the world today.
After creating a way for all computers to communicate, it wasn't long until it was taken advantage of. Computer "hackers" and "viruses" began to emerge quickly, destroying systems and stealing information along the way. In 1988 the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) was formed with the intention of warning computer users about the threats and educate them on steps they could take to protect their systems and information. CERT also began conducting research to help improve the security of preexisting systems. The invention of technology firewalls in the late 1980's has reduced the security risk that comes along with internet access, by only allowing authorized (safe) code into the network or system. These firewalls have been modified and improved over time and will continue to be improved to keep up with the number of internet users, and security risks that arise.
Comments
Post a Comment