Is There a Security Problem in Computing ?

How do we protect our most valuable assets? One option is to place them in a safe place, like a bank. We seldom hear of a bank robbery these days, even though it was once a fairly lucrative undertaking. In the American Wild West, banks kept large amounts of cash on hand, as well as gold and silver, which could not be traced easily. In those days, cash was much more commonly used than checks. Communications and transportation were primitive enough that it might have been hours before the legal authorities were informed of a robbery and days before they could actually arrive at the scene of the crime, by which time the robbers were long gone. To control the situation, a single guard for the night was only marginally effective. Should you have wanted to commit a robbery, you might have needed only a little common sense and perhaps several days to analyze the situation; you certainly did not require much sophisticated training. Indeed, you usually learned on the job, assisting other robbers in a form of apprenticeship. On balance, all these factors tipped very much in the favor of the criminal, so that bank robbery was, for a time, considered to be a profitable business. Protecting assets was difficult and not always effective. Today, however, asset protection is easier, with many factors working against the potential criminal. Very sophisticated alarm systems silently protect secure places like banks whether people are around or not. The techniques of criminal investigation have become very effective, so that a person can be identified by genetic material (DNA),