In order to better understand why we need cybersecurity it is worth investigating how did we get here?
Back in the Agricultural age, we were tied to the land, seasons and the sun. With the Industrial Age, we introduced a lot of artificial constructs. People’s days were guided by factory whistles, they worked nine to five jobs and tended to work where the capital equipment was concentrated. So machineries were developed, steam engines were built. These ended up accumulating people, tools and resources. Then we saw the birth of corporations that hired thousands of people that were organized in a hierarchy, which in turn were organized in silos or departments such as human resource, engineering, legal, etc.
The information age brought in a whole new reality. We’re no longer tied to a desk or building. We’re interconnected virtually in work.
However a closer look into our computer systems and networks reveals some interesting facts. When the information system revolution began in the 60’s, companies used mainframes. They were physically locked behind closed doors. The 80’s saw a proliferation of desktops and we were no longer tied to mainframes alone.
Soon we noticed the convenience of passing files along a wire and started wiring up our computers, systems and networks. What went unnoticed is that every network, system and node presented a possible vulnerability. We were transitioning from mainframe to desktop however, our sense of security hadn’t evolved. And so what has been unleashed by networking all of our systems is the incredible cyber security problem that we’re facing today. And a lot of it had to do with society and us as individuals having a difficult time keeping up with these changes and understanding the implications.