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It really burns me up that security should be an issue at all with computers. That it is, I believe, says more about societys failures in teaching right and wrong than it does about computers. But security issues have always been there with computers. With the Internet, which makes all our computers accessible to all the others, we have made ourselves vulnerable to each other.
Turns out were not very trustworthy: When your computers interact with other computers, you have to protect yourself.
Ziff Davis Medias new Security Supersite will give you one place to access the security resources from PC Magazine, eWEEK and elsewhere. We will give you links to important security sites beyond Ziff. We will also create some custom security-related content that we hope will be useful to you.
Security is not just a complicated topic; its a diverse one. Most people are aware of issues arising from computer viruses even if they dont understand how they work. We will also present content related to securing personal computers, home and business networks from outside attack. We will try to keep you informed about developments in the computer security field in private industry, in academia and in the technical security community on the Internet.
Security issues for businesses and consumers are different, and for large enterprises they are complex enough to require dedicated staff. Were going to explore issues and products for all types of users and point you to resources for more information.
Were all interested in consumer security issues because were all consumers at home, and lots of us have kids we want to protect from the dirt under the fingernails of the Internet. Nevertheless, most of the famous and costly security issues on the Net, like the recent Slammer SQL Server worm, are largely enterprise issues. Theyre the big game in the security field, and well be on them like white on rice.
Because most of us use Windows, most important end-user security issues are Windows issues. But Windows isnt everything; it doesnt have a monopoly on security problems. Well keep you informed about important security developments across client and server platforms, including the many facets of Unix.
My name is Larry Seltzer and Ive been working in the computer industry for almost 20 years. I started out as a programmer writing commercial software, then in-house corporate applications, and then I found my way to product testing. I was technical director of testing labs at PC Week (now eWEEK) and PC Magazine. Ive been following the industry closely since before people cared about computer security.
Twice a week Ill be spouting off about security matters here. Twice a week is a lot for a columnist, but unfortunately the number of security issues out there is distressingly large. I hope to write about a very broad selection of subjects—from viruses, to physically securing computers themselves, to computer forensics, and on and on.
Please e-mail me with your own opinions and information about security and about this site. Im interested in hearing from you.
Larry Seltzer has been working in the computer industry and writing about it since 1983.