In the beginning of the terminal era there was only one way to use the internet. The user had to specify a service (IP, FTP, TELNET) to use to connect to a server. The connection would then be negotiated by the specified service protocols. This gave the user a great deal of working knowledge to operate his or her machine with. When the GUI (graphics user interface) was developed, the realm of computers opened up to a broader range of users than ever before. User now didn’t have to know to change their FTP transfer mode from ASCII to binary when transferring from a Microsoft platform to unix/linux. They didn’t need to remember all 24 options for how to list the contents of a directory (or even how to list a directory’s contents other than just clicking the folder).
This lack of user knowledge has created a large division between the computer literate and the hacker. To clarify, a hacker is not a malicious computer user. This is a title bestowed on malevolent tech-savvy users by the media (because how can we come together to hate something if we haven’t labeled it?). A hacker is simply a very highly skilled computer user. This influx of unskilled users has led to great holes in security. If a user has entrusted you with their security on a network, chances are that they’re walking around the internet blindly with no concern for the consequences of their actions. When malicious users try to take advantage of the disregard for security, it’s now your job to find the hole the attacker has dug and board it up.
In the end it really comes down to computer fluency. How well can someone speak the language needed for the task? The inside of a computer is, in every way, like a small world. There are different languages and customs, different way to travel, and there is always powerful shadowy figure watching whose good side you should make sure you’re on. There are more languages for the web than I can even count; xhtml, perl, ruby, python, apache, java, javascript, the list goes on. The same goes for application programming. Then just to navigate the computer a user MUST be FLUENT in command prompt for windows, and all the different shells as well as terminals for both mac and linux. The user who is more fluent in subject is currently needed will be the winner, and the only way to make sure you always win is by knowing them all.
Jamais Cascio, suggests that we are heading toward what he calls the “Nöocene epoch”, where we begin to evolve to deal with the amount of information that we have created. I believe that we may have already reached this point. In the article by Nicholas Carr, Carr discusses evidence that this could be rather simple step. As the brain adjusts to in taking bits of information and moving on to find more, patterns in the brain develop that allow it adjust to this constant hoping from subject to subject. This adjustment, however, make the brain less able to focus on single tasks for long periods of time. This could be the next significant change in humans. In the computer security race, something like this could make all the difference. As Darwin state, “For as all the inhabitants of each country are struggling together with nicely balanced forces, extremely slight modifications in the structure or habits of one inhabitant would often give it an advantage over others; and still further modification of the same kind would often sill further increase the advantage” (112).
works cited
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid? - The Atlantic (July/August 2008)." The Atlantic: Breaking News, Analysis and Opinion on politics, business, culture, international, science, technology, food and society. July & aug. 2008. Web. 29 Nov. 2009.
Cascio, Jamais. "Get Smarter - The Atlantic (July/August 2009)." The Atlantic: Breaking News, Analysis and Opinion on politics, business, culture, international, science, technology, food and society. July & aug. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2009.
Darwin, Charles. Darwin (Norton Critical Editions) (3rd Edition). New York: W. W. Norton, 2000. Print.
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