Computer Security: a change to the net assessment

The threat to our computers and networks is very real.   Dozens of millions of malicious bots have been projected to be operating in PCs.  Hackers have penetrated sensitive, seemingly well protected corporate sites.  Denial of service attacks have been conducted against businesses and even countries.  And press reporting indicates even sensitive US government computers have been penetrated.  Leaders in allied countries have been quoted in the press saying their PCs have been compromised as well.

On top of this, if you look at projections of the future computing environment, our dependencies on technology and the threat of vulnerabilities only increases (see my posting on the future titled “Good and Evil in the Future of Cyberspace”).

So by any calculation, the assessment of our nation’s ability to succeed in cyberspace is in question.  The net assessment is not looking so good.

But there are some very optimistic things happening in Cyberspace, including a very powerful movement towards Cloud Computing.  And, with the right technological vision and leadership, we can make a significant change in the net assessment of that domain.

Let me give you an example that has me thinking very optimistically now.

I have a new computer on my desk.  It is a SunRay 270 built by Sun Microsystems.

Here are some of its features:

• It is totally protected from bots, so no zombie programs are running on it, and they never will.

• No data is stored in my new computer, so if I gave it to you or the nation’s greatest forensic lab (or even the forensic lab of a hostile intelligence service), my files would not be compromised.  The data is not in the device.

• Although it might be theoretically possible for an unauthorized person to hack the backend of this system, there are so many protections in place that the odds are very very low that they would
  succeed.  The odds are very very high that malicious individuals would be detected during or after their unauthorized actions.  Bad people would actually have to hack from a totally different direction, not from the computer on my desk, but through hardened servers protected by
  more resources than I could ever bring to bear myself to protect my
  data.

• The computer is connected to the net and is fully operational and delivers incredible functionality (I’m editing this post on it, for example).   Any web service/modern Web2.0 capability works on it.  Almost all old fashioned fat client applications work on it too.

• The architecture that supports the computer on my desk gives me an incredible mobility advantage.  I can log onto similar systems around the world and securely have my desktop presented to me, with access to all my applications and data.

• This computer has no moving parts.  So it should last a long long time before I need a new one.

• It is very green.  It uses only a tiny bit of electricity.

• New applications are immediately available.  And I’m not the one that has to install the new apps.
• I have to admit, nothing made by humans can be perfect.  This computer is based on servers that run software that was created by humans and sometimes they will have to be patched.  The good news is that amateurs don’t get to touch those computers.  Professionals patch them and they
  patch them fast.

I’ve just scratched the surface on what this powerful thing can do.

So when will you get yours?  That all depends.  But if this computer proliferates like other dramatically transformational/disruptive technologies, we can expect its use to grow exponentially.  First the large enterprises will see its benefit and use there may double every couple years.  Many of these large enterprises will see value in putting these in their employee’s homes to empower their workforce securely.  And along with that we can soon expect commercial IT providers (cable companies? phone companies? ISPs?) to begin offering these capabilities as a service to all home users.  This may all seem to start slow, but I have no doubt the proliferation of these devices will follow a Kurzweilian curve.
When something doubles every couple years it always seems to start slow, but next thing you know your head is spinning at its rate of proliferation.

As for me, I can’t wait for this to be everywhere.  Every good person needs one.  You all deserve to have your information and resources protected from threats.

You may also like -

Melissa Hathaway: Compelling action along a broad frontThe Debut of Invincea: New endpoint protection against malwareThe Devil is in the Details: Seven Tests to Apply to any Cyber Conflict ConceptBill Vass Joins Zafesoft Advisory BoardGeospatial TTPs Contribute To Cyber SecurityThe Evolving Enterprise Threat EnvironmentCrucialPointLLCDefense cyber chief: The cloud is the military’s next InternetCrucialPointLLCMalicious Software Attacks Security Cards Used by PentagonCrucialPointLLCAnup Ghosh on Cybersecurity in 2012: Let’s break the security insanity cycleCrucialPointLLCUsing hackers as a national resourceDevost.Net