The Cybersecurity Industrial Complex

Since the dawn of the information age, computer security commandos have battled the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse: child pornographers, drug lords, mafiosi, and terrorists. A noble struggle, to be sure, but mostly vapourware. The Feds have a massive, multi-agency plan to protect the national information infrastructure. Get ready for IT police and network smart bombs. Because of the inroads the Internet and other digital network technologies have made into everyday life over the last decade, it is increasingly possible to amass Big Brother-like surveillance powers through Little Brother means. The basic components include everyday digital technologies like e-mail, online shopping and travel booking, ATM systems, mobile phone networks, electronic toll-collection systems and credit-card payment terminals