Saturday, December 29, 2007

VIRTUAL SECURITY

SECURITY. This is perhaps one of the most expanded concept in recent years, courtesy of technology. Not too long ago, the term denoted protection and preservation of the integrity or existence of something real (physical)- our limbs, tangible properties such as money, valuables, houses, cars, etc.

For an average household, security used to mean "locking the doors" in order to be safe inside the homes together with our belongings. Taking it a step further in case of valuable movables, meant putting them inside a safe. At present, aside from securing the things themselves- wallets, the cash and cards contained therein; cellphones, PC's, laptops, PDA, Ipods, and what-not's, people also worry about the security of the "intangibles". There arose the need for securing information inside mobile phones, other gadgets and even securing the WiFi connection! [When we had WiFi installed, we were not too big in installing a password so the children would not have to bug us each time they went online. As to the "neighbors" who might access our Wifi, assuming they did not have their own, we never considered it a loss if someone once in a while benefited from our connection. Over the Holidays, though, a guest at my house alerted me about someone with an unsecured WiFi in Canada who got implicated in an investigation for pedophelia.]

For the businesses, merchants needed only to secure their wares, amount of cash sales, the very premises where they conducted their businesses. But now we here of merchants whose customers' databases are being hacked to steal information.

Whereas breach in security used to leave obvious traces of broken locks, windows, and doors, these days it is possible to have intruders in our personal lives and businesses without even knowing it. Since security breach in the virtual world is not only harder to detect but also leaves us robbed of the more important things in life such as identity, privacy, etc., virtual security should be the next big thing soon after any new technology comes out. With all the money-making effort spent by some genius on creating computer virus, the same if not many times more efforts should be spent on creating hardwares and softwares to address security for
virtual information and property.

More importantly, future laws (as well as, ahem, the "new" government body) on ICT should also be big on security.

- Marichelle B. Recio

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