Until recently, data security was provided as a function of system or network security. This reflected the traditional view of the server operating system as the center of an information technology universe.
Recently, a large medical services company with tens of terabytes of digital records tried an experiment. It copied a subset of its electronic records, which included MRI scans and X-rays, from expensive disk arrays to tape, then restored the files from tape back to disk.
Jon William Toigo says it can be argued that security specialists have conceded the public network infrastructure to the bad guys: the hackers, script kiddies, computer criminals and anyone else with a Pentium PC and an ax to grind. The alternative ? securing the public network itself ? has seemed a virtually impossible task. Securing the network, however, is what Victor Sheymov, a former KGB major and cryptography expert who defected to the United States in 1980, has sought to do since forming Invicta Networks.
Successful hacker attacks against Web sites of the State Department, NASA, the Naval Weapons Research Center and even the White House ? all within recent months ? underscore that security remains the Achilles' heel of Web technology.
