Joshua Chama

Africa University
Fundamentals of Information Security
Assignment 1
4th February 2023.

The evolution of information security since World War II

Information security is the protecting of information and information systems from unauthorized use,
access, modification, destruction, disruption, disclosure and provide confidentiality, integrity and
availability. Information security is cardinal because when information is not protected it can lead to
information being lost or stolen, create a poor experience for customers and reputational harm. Data
breaches, fraud, and cyber-security attacks may be also happened to information with no security thus, it
is very important. Therefore, this article is about the evolution of information security since World War II.
During World War II we have a very good example of securing information by cyphering information
which was done by the Enigma machine developed by nazi Germany. The Enigma machine was
considered so secure that it was used to encipher the most top-secret messages. I was the most
sophisticated ciphering machine, securing the Nazi fleet and troops’ communications and was believed to
be un hackable. However, cryptanalysts from Poland and Britain managed to find the way to decipher it.
Businesses originally began to increase their protection of their computers in the 1960s. Since there was
no internet or network at the time, security measures were mostly physical in nature and aimed at
denying access to those who had the necessary computer literacy.
Passwords and numerous security measures were introduced to devices in order to achieve this. To
secure the stored data, additional fire safety precautions were put in place. After all, there wasn't an
iCloud back then, thus other methods of computer security were required.
The history of cybersecurity can be traced back to a 1970s research project on the ARPANET (The
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). A researcher by the name of Bob Thomas developed a
computer software that could move the ARPANET network while leaving a faint trail behind it. The
printed message that was left behind as it traveled over the network, "I'M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF
YOU CAN," inspired him to call the show "CREEPER.
The creator of email, Ray Tomlinson, later created a program that advanced CREEPER and turned it into
the first-ever computer worm by making it self-replicating. Fortunately, he then created another program
named Reaper that pursued and eliminated CREEPER, serving as the first instance of antivirus.
Although Thomas and Tomlinson's programs were intended to be a bit of a workaround, they actually
served a very vital purpose by exposing a number of security holes in the ARPANET network. At the time,
a lot of big businesses and governments were connecting their computers to form their own networks by
using telephone connections. Additionally, certain groups of people started to realize this and started
looking for ways to breach these barriers and steal crucial information. This resulted in the first hackers in
history.
Computers began to grow more interconnected throughout the years that followed, computer viruses
developed into more sophisticated threats, and information security systems were unable to keep up
with the continual stream of cutting-edge hacking techniques.
For instance, the Russians started utilizing computer hacker Marcus Hess from Germany to acquire US
military secrets back in 1986. He broke into more than 400 military computers, including Pentagon
mainframes, with the intention of selling the KGB their secrets but he was stopped.
The Morris Worm was created two years later, in 1988, marking one of the pivotal moments in the
development of information security. As additional institutions, armies, and governments joined to the
network, its utilization started to grow quickly. The Morris Worm was created as a result of the necessity
for gradually expanding security measures. The worm, which was created by Robert Morris, was intended
to spread over networks, enter computers using a known bug, and then replicate itself. Its goal was to
find places where a network intrusion prevention system was deficient. It is in the 1980s that the
ARPANET network also became more commonly known as the internet, and became available to the
public as the worldwide web during 1989.
However, the worm's capacity for self-replication would prove to be its downfall because it did so
aggressively, rendering the targeted machines unusable and slowing the internet to a crawl. Additionally,
it quickly expanded throughout the network and inflicted extensive damage. In fact, Robert Morris was
the first individual to be successfully charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act because the harm
it caused was so serious.
As the public gained access to the internet, an increasing number of people started posting their personal
information online. As a result, organized crime groups viewed this as a possible source of income and
began stealing data from individuals and governments online.
By the middle of the 1990s, network security threats had grown rapidly, necessitating the mass
production of firewalls and antivirus software to safeguard users. After a computer virus attack at their
facility in California, a NASA researcher came up with the first firewall program architecture. The study's
researchers built a virtual "firewall" that they based on the physical barriers that stop actual fires inside of
buildings or other structures from spreading. However, while these firewalls and antivirus programs went
some ways to minimizing the risk of attacks, computer viruses and worms kept coming thick and fast,
thus, hackers had the upper hand at the time.
During the 2000s, the internet grew incredibly at this time. Computers were now present in the majority
of homes and businesses. There were many advantages, but regrettably, cybercriminals also had access
to new chances. In the history of computer security, a novel virus kind that didn't require file downloads
first arose at the beginning of this decade. It was sufficient to just visit a website that had a virus. This kind
of stealth infection posed a significant risk. Systems for instant messaging were also hacked.
In the 2000s, there were also more credit card hacks. Large-scale credit card data breaches have
occurred. Additionally, Yahoo was attacked during this period. These were discovered in 2013 and 2014.
Over 3 billion Yahoo accounts were accessed by hackers in one occasion.
Millions of PlayStation customers' personal information was stolen in 2011 when hackers gained access to
Sony's PlayStation network, forcing the network to be offline for several weeks. The motivation for this
attack was rage over Sony suing an American hacker who attempted to reverse-engineer the PlayStation
3 to allow users to play unauthorized third-party games.
The 2011 PlayStation Network outage, also known as the PSN Hack, was brought on by an "external
intrusion" on Sony's PlayStation Network and Priority services. As a result, the service was unavailable to
PS 3 and PlayStation Portable users, and the personal information of about 77 million accounts was
compromised. As a result of the attack, which occurred between April 17 and 20, Sony was compelled to
shut down the PlayStation Network on April 20.

A dozen of the debit cards that the Union Savings Bank in Danbury, Connecticut, had issued at the start of
March 2012 had an uncommon pattern of fraud. It also discovered that numerous cards had recently
been used at a nearby private school's cafe.

A tiny number of persons were affected by the breach, and cardholders were informed that they
wouldn't be held liable for any illegal card use. Visa was the first business to take action against Global
Payments, removing it off its list of approved service providers.

Hacktivist collective Anonymous launched a series of cyberattacks against the Singaporean government in
2013, partially in retribution for Singapore's web censorship regulations. A member of Anonymous using
the online identity "The Messiah" claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The website of the Ang Mo Kio Town Council was the second target of the cyberattacks initiated on
October 28, 2013, after the website of the People's Action Party Community Foundation. Following that,
site administrators took down the website and reported it to the police.

There have been a lot of hacking since 2013 until now, in 2015 Experian Data Breach Compromises 15
million Records: This data breach was a result of a user error in the verification process of confirming
customer identity. The Experian data was handed over to a cybercriminal pretending to be one of
Experian’s clients.

In 2016 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was Adopted by the EU. GDPR is a legal
framework which defines guidelines for the collection and use of personal data from people outside the
European Union (EU). People can now have more control over their personal data. The adoption of the
General Data Protection Regulation legislation in 2016 was one of the EU's finest achievements in recent
years. It is intended to replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive, which was adopted at the dawn of the
internet.

2018 and 2019 also had a number of information attacks like the Singapore healthy care was hacked 35
times. In 2020 professionals working in cybersecurity had difficulties this year since COVID-19 was made
public. Cybercriminals continued their illegal actions despite the confusion. Some of the most significant
data breaches in 2020 included: Microsoft unintentionally posts public data from an internal customer
support database, A hacking forum received the personal information of more than 10.5 million MGM
Resorts Hotels visitors and on the dark web, more than 267 million Facebook profiles became available
for purchase in April.

2021 continued to see many cyberattacks. some of the most prominent ones were: Florida-based
Actelion Supply Chain Attack in January, Australia's February water supply March ransomware attack on
Channel 9 News, Ransomware at CNA Financial in March, April's Quanta Ransomware Attack, April's
Brenntag Ransomware Attack etc.
In conclusion, the field of information security has existed for some time; it is not a novel invention. You
would be mistaken to believe that cybersecurity started when computers first gained access to the
internet because cybersecurity also includes safeguarding data that is just stored on a computer and not
through a network. Installing antivirus software was important to safeguard your computer from threats
with the emergence of the internet. Despite the fact that destructive attacks were less common back
then than they are now, the history of cyber security threats has kept up with the development of
information technology.

Since computers connected to the internet and started communicating, cybercrime has undergone
significant transformation. Computer users have been reasonably concerned about these risks for a long
time, even if the risk is significantly larger now than it was back then. As technology advances, cyber
hazards could shift. Cybercriminals constantly create new techniques for breaking into networks and
stealing data.