Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker, Second Edition

Chapter 1. Introduction

Internet security is certainly a hot topic these days. What was once a small research network, a home for greybeard researchers and future millionaire geeks, is now front-page material. Internet security has been the subject of movies, books, and real-life thrillers.

The Internet itself is an entirely new thing in the world: a marketplace, a backyard fence, a kind of library, even a telephone. Its growth has been astounding, and the Web is ubiquitous. We see URLs on beer bottles and TV commercials, and no movie trailer would be complete without one.

The Internet is a large city, not a series of small towns. Anyone can use it, and use it nearly anonymously.

The Internet is a bad neighborhood.

Security Truisms

We have found that ...