In today’s world, cybersecurity is gaining the utmost importance. But, this scenario was not at all present, when the internet was first introduced half a century ago. At that point in time, the total focus was on the new release packaged network.
But, over the years with the evolution of the internet, cyber threats came alongside as well. And now we are standing in the 21st century and fighting some of the most dangerous technologically advanced cyber threats.
Cyber threats were never this complex and widespread. In previous times, the cyber threats were less harmful and short-ranged, meaning the viruses from that time only had a limited device coverage range.
The scenario has completely changed now. Along with the immense technological advancements, cyber threats have also made a wider and harmful impact on the internet. As a result, traditional cybersecurity methods are just scraps to fight this kind of cyberattacks. Then, how are modern companies tackling these kinds of cyber-attacks? Well, the answer to this question is very simple. Lets us move on to the next section of the topic to find out over the years how internet companies are fighting cyberthreats.
The Evolution of Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is one of the largest businesses on this planet. And, you have to agree on the fact that we have made great progress. Every company in today’s date is on the internet and has a cybersecurity team.
In case, you need a cybersecurity team for your organization, then you can always connect to reliable professional support such as Atdoorstep. A responsible team, in every organization, is known for keeping the company safe from any kind of external threats and data leaks. All pieces of information that we enter on the internet, get stored somewhere in the database of that company.
So that means there are thousands of personal data and valuable information stored in numerous databases. Now, suppose all these databases get compromised along with your private information. Honestly, you just cannot do anything. That is why cybersecurity is such an important business in today’s world. So, let us get a memory recap on how much cybersecurity has evolved over the years. But, before that, we should take a deeper look at the present scenario, or a brief look at the future possibilities:
The Arrival of the Creeper Virus — March 16, 1971
The idea of the first computer virus was proposed in the late 1940s. But, the idea came into play 30 years later, that means near 1971. At that time it was the age of ARPANET.
There were only a few users during the early stages of the internet. One day those users got a message in their display saying “I’m the Creeper, catch me if you can”. And as usual, everyone was stunned by that movement and didn’t know what to do. The ability of the creeper virus was limited as well. The virus automatically replicates itself and spreads to another system. But, this virus was designed only to show a message on the user screen not to harm anyone.
First U.S Patent for Cybersecurity — 20th September 1993
During that period of time, every technological company was competing with each other to claim patents for new computer systems. In the year 1983, MIT first came up with a patent granted by the U.S. The patent was for “cryptographic communications system and method”.
The birth of cybersecurity took place in that same year. The patent introduced one of the first public-key cryptosystems, the RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) algorithm. From that day on, cryptography became the bedrock or the building block of cybersecurity.
DEF CON Conference Startup — 9th June 1993
In case you keep news updates on cybersecurity, then you must have heard of the DEF CON Conference. It is the world’s most popular cybersecurity technical conference. Started off in June 1993, the conference only had a capacity of 100 people. Today, the DEF CON Conference is attained by 20,000 cybersecurity professionals every year, from all around the world.
The Birth of SSL(Secure Socket Layer) 2.0 – February 1995
Every website that lives on the internet has to have a valid SSL certificate. SSL is the security protocol that allows you to do inline monetary transactions and buy e-commerce products. SSL protocol was first developed by Netscape after the National Center for Supercomputing Applications launched its first web browser.
Then, in 1995, Netscapes introduced the SSL protocol 2.0. Now, this protocol is used in every web development code as the main security layer. That is why today when you go to a website from your browser, and you see HTTPS written on the top, then you know that every information shared with that website is encrypted.
Anonymous is Born — 1st October 2003
The event of the birth of the infamous Anonymous group changed a lot of global events. Anonymous is a universally known hacker group. The group has no particular leader, they tend to work autonomously from different parts of the world.
The anonymous group wears Guy Fawkes masks as a symbol of their identity. They have been a part of many historical cyberattack incidents. Though their primary motive behind every action is to protect the privacy of its citizens.
Introduction of Operation Aurora — 12th January 2010
Until 2010, any news on security breaches was not made public. But, this concept was changed forever when on 12th January 2010 Google announced “Operation Aurora”. This event was regarding a major breach in the infrastructure of Google China.
First, they thought that the hackers were trying to reveal the profiles of Chinese human rights activists, but later on, the analysts found out that the hackers were trying to identify the Chinese Intelligence operatives present in the US. Apart from this, the cyberattack also hit 50 other companies on the internet, finance, technology, media, etc.
Cybersecurity in the Modern Era
There have been many severe threats in recent years. For example, some high brands got hit such as Target, Anthem, Yahoo, Marriott, and many more. But, as a response to these attacks, many cybersecurity firms have taken necessary measures to prevent any kind of personal data leak or breach.
New laws have been formed in terms of the advancement of cybersecurity. Moreover, to keep up with the technologically advanced threats, firms are now using machine learning and artificial intelligence in order to counter every kind of security threat.
Finally…
Over the years the world has seen several technological advancements. But, it is not necessary that everyone will use the technology for the betterment of society or our world. So that means, by getting advanced, day-by-day we are calling these threats upon us purposely.
But, humans have the capacity to counter every kind of threat. Technology can never be stopped. Whether it be on a digital platform or on real grounds. The evolution of cybersecurity is very distinct and shows positive exponential growth. Therefore, no matter what kind of cyber threat we face, we should always be prepared for any kind of counter-measures.