Cyber security emerged not long after the arrival of the first computers, which is hardly surprising when you consider that any digital code can be altered if you know what you are doing.
If we were to go back to the very beginning, cyber security started with a simple research project by a man by the name of Bob Thomas, who, in 1972, realised that a small computer program could, in fact, travel across a network. He wrote a program he called “Creeper”, which was designed to leave the following message on network users’ computer screens,“I’m the creeper, catch me if you can.”
The Birth of the Worm
At that time, another IT pioneer, Ray Tomlinson, took the program a step further, causing it to replicate. The very first computer worm was born. He then went on to create another program, which he named, “Reaper”, that was designed to chase creeper and delete it. So, shortly after the first virus was formed, the very first anti-virus program followed.
Current Cyber Security
Almost all Australian businesses now have Australian ISO 27001 compliance and certification, which is compulsory. If your company is not fully compliant with the various cyber security mandates, talk to a leading cyber security provider.
Computer experts in the mid 1970s would have had no idea of the extent that cybercrime would eventually reach. For the first few years, cybercrime consisted mainly of unauthorized people reading and copying files they should not see.
Hacking Internet Gateways
This began in the mid-1980s, with a German computer hacker called Marcus Hess who managed to penetrate the Pentagon’s network and duly hacked more than 400 computers, with the intent of selling the data to the Russians.
Hess was only caught when another computer genius was hired to identify a bookkeeping error, and he realized that the network was compromised. Eventually, Hess was brought to trial and found guilty of espionage, and surprisingly, given a 20-month suspended sentence.
The Early 1990s
This was the era when cyber security really got a foothold, with early anti-virus providers offering AV scanner services that would scan all the binaries on a network, comparing them with signatures. Yet, this used up an awful lot of computing resources, which, at the time, were nothing like those we enjoy today.
Endpoint Protection Platforms
The AV scanning was vastly inadequate, and consequently, endpoint protection platforms were born, which would scan and find known malware that would be registered in its database. For the next two decades, a game of cat and mouse ensued between hackers and those charged with the task of providing cyber protection.
In 2014, it was estimated that a staggering 500,000 new malware codes were being written every day!
Current Cyber Security
You’ll be happy to learn that ethical hackers (those employed to find and plug security breaches) have made great strides in their battle with the hackers.
You can enjoy top protection if you enlist the help of a leading cyber security provider. There is, however, still a great risk of cyber theft if your network is not adequately protected, so don’t take any chances with your confidential online data.