Computer War
According to some researches, the next war in the 21st century may not be full scale warfare with atomic bombs but "Computer war" where country attacks each others with "Computer viruses and worms" or "Cyber attacks". Today every country knows that information technology is the key drivers of global economic growth and the internet is a key factor of "Globalization". But the internet is becoming a powerful instrument in the hands of those who want to steal, terrorize, and wage war, using "Cyber attacks" methods.
There are increasing evidences that the internet is being used by countries as an instrument of aggression as some keystrokes on the computer can become a “weapon" more effective than guns and bullets. In 2007, Estonia blamed Russia for instigating a wave of cyber-attacks against its country. In 2008, before Russian tanks moved into Georgia, there were cyber attacks that destroyed all Georgian government networks. Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups have wage several cyber terrorism on Western countries. North Korea has been accused of sending thousands of "Viruses and worms" to South. Korea's and disrupted their business for several days. According to several studies, most developed countries can withstand an "Cyber attack" that aim to destroy their computer networks but most developing countries will NOT be able to defend themselves as they do NOT understand how vulnerable their internet security are.
This is not just an issue for governments but business companies are also vulnerable to "Hackers" who use the internet to steal credit cards number, money, or sensitive information. Today more companies are being "attacked" by hackers than ever before. Some companies even reported more than a thousand attempts to break its security systems every day. In the past two years, "cybercrime" has cost Americans more than $8 billion dollars.
Today most companies are strengthening their information system security by set up firewalls, monitor access and using special software to detect and identify unauthorized users. However every secured system has some weakest points and usually the weakest point is most likely a human error. For example, an uninformed person open an email with virus or a employee download software that has been tempered with "Trojan horse" to allow hackers access to the system. To keep systems secure, companies need talented information security specialist but as the demand increases all over the world, university could not produce enough graduated students in this field. The high demand and low supply has created a significant increase in salary for software people who have knowledge and skills in computer and network security. Today newly graduated students with skills in computing security can make twice the salary of graduated who work as programmers. The average pay for computer security specialist in the U.S and Europe is about $95,000 to $125,000 but it is till increasing as the demand exceeds supply.
Students who want to specialize in computing security must take some courses in network security, system security, and system architect to identify security risks for information systems and know how to set up security controls that mitigate security risks. They must understand security threat and vulnerabilities, the issues of malwares, malicious code, and cryptography; they must have knowledge of secure communication (for example: PKI, SSL, IPSEC, and VPN) as well as authorization and authentication. They must understand system architect and be able to develop security architecture for a medium sized software system.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
