The Information Age Context

We have entered the Information Age, as we watch the Industrial Age fade in the rear view mirror. This shift is transforming our lives in so many ways--how we advance in the world, how we work, what is our sense of time, how we solve problems, and how we learn. To gain appreciation for the enormity of these changes, reflect a moment on Table 1. Note that networks, and networked computers play a key role in this shift.

Table 1: Transformative Paradigms [1]

At the heart of this revolution is the internet, connecting us to each other and to our means of doing business in ways never imagined. We simply can't get enough of it; in fact, you'd think we are having a love affair with this technology—we refer to ourselves as "embracing the internet!"

World Internet Usage data (in Table 2 below) demonstrates just how far this technology has penetrated in our lives worldwide. Over two billion people now access the Internet. With the more populous regions like Asia lagging behind the West in penetration, the effects of this pervasiveness have just begun! We can see from the use of social media how ubiquitous communication is upending governments. Witness the "Arab Spring [2]."

This is only the beginning of this transformation. The next major innovation, ubiquitous use of virtual worlds, will be even more mind-expanding, as we become our avatars and enter into environments like Linden Labs' Second Life to attend school, consult with our physicians, even take vacations! With only 32.7% of the world's population surfing the Net today, think how our lives will change as saturation increases and we move to virtual worlds.

Table 2: World Internet Usage

(Source: Internet World Stats: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm)

However, as we smash Industrial Age infrastructure, replacing it with the connectedness of the internet, unintended consequences are inevitable: online fraud, online voting scams, illegal music downloads, continuing threats to network security, and wrongful prosecution for misunderstood internet crimes [3, 4, 5, 6].

Like Mickey Mouse as the Sorceror's Apprentice in Fantasia [7], we have assumed the wizard's powers without anticipating the risks. We've opened Pandora's box! What was meant for good has ushered in unexpected problems. The internet has brought convenience, savings, and productivity, but it also has created troubling dislocations. Perhaps one dislocation that affects us directly for the first time in history is that the tools of technical advance—computers and networks—are being mastered by minors, sometimes to the embarrassment of adults, thereby reversing the roles of student and teacher.

If the adults are to remain in charge, we need to ensure their digital literacy. This requires retraining across many sectors of society—the legal community, the political arena, the school system as examples—with a commitment to maintain currency because a veritable "arms race" has developed. As we get better at defending our systems, hackers' skills get better. As their skills get better, we improve our defenses, which only inspires hackers to acquire even better skills and abilities, which then stimulates us to improve security even more, and so on, in a never-ending pattern of escalation as shown in Figure 2 [8]. Thus, continuous vigilance and ongoing cybersecurity literacy are necessary to stay safe online. 

Figure 2. The Escalation Tendency of the Hacker Arms Race

At the University of Washington, we are committed to raising digital literacy through programs launched by the Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity. This includes workshops that offer free CLEs to practicing attorneys. We'd like to hear from readers their ideas about how to ensure society keeps up.

REFERENCES:

[1] Covey, S. (1990). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Franklin Press.

[2] "The Arab Spring and the Internet: Research roundup" (2012) Journalist's Resource. Available at http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/internet/research-arab-spring-internet-key-studies/

[3] Stevens, T. "Electronic Voting Outlawed in Ireland," Engadget, 28, April, 2009. http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/electronic-voting-outlawed-in-ireland-michael-flatley-dvds-okay

[4] Itzkoff, D., "Student Fined $675,000 in (music) Downloading Case," The New York Times: Art Beat, 31, July, 2009.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/judge-rules-student-is-liable-in-music-download-case

[5] Moscaritolo, A., "Majority Think that Outsourcing Threatens Network Security," SC Magazine, 29, September, 2009.

[6] Green, R. Connecticut, Drops Felony Charges against Julie Amero, Four Years after her Arrest, CT Confidential, 21, November, 2008.

[7] The Disney Corporation, Fantasia, 1940.

[8] Endicott-Popovsky, B.E., & Frincke, D. (2006, January). Adding the fourth 'R': A systems approach to solving the hacker's arms race. Presented at HICSS 39 Symposium: Skilled Human-intelligent Agent Performance: Measurement, Application and Symbiosis, Kauai, HI. Available at http://www.itl.nist.gov/iaui/vvrg/hicss39/4_r_s_rev_3_HICSS_2006.doc

Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, Ph.D., CRISC, is Director for the Center of Information Assurance and Cybersecurity at the University of Washington—designated by the NSA as a Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education and Research—and the Academic Director for the Masters in Infrastructure Planning and Management in the Urban Planning Department of the School of Built Environments. This follows a 20-year career in industry in executive and consulting positions in IT architecture and project management. Her research interests include enterprise-wide information systems security and compliance management, forensic-ready networks, the science of digital forensics and secure coding practices. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists.