What will become of us!?

Cliff Stoll's novel, "The Cuckoo's Egg," is not only a great story and an exciting tale, it is very informative and provides the reader with access to more knowledge about computers. The story is a true story based upon his own personal experiences, and yet he is able to add all the elements into it that make any fictional story good. A big focus of his novel is on computer security and how important it is and essentially how it came to be. In this day and age computers basically run the world. Everyone uses computers, they are used or can be used in every career choice. They make the world run faster and smoother. With these computers and the ease of access to information of all kinds, it has become increasingly more important to have ways to secure and protect confidential and important information. In the novel, the government agencies, with their top secret and confidential information, had no idea that they were even being hacked. They dismissed the idea as impossible, until it was shown to them when and how it was happening.

Computers and computer security have come a long way since then, they have changed, adapted and evolved with the world around them. There are risks in enjoying the comforts which computers and their new programs and websites bring. There are so many loopholes and tricks (just like in the story) that hackers use to get information out of other people. They steal identities,  steal money, destroy information, and much more. Some people learn the hard way, that trusting too much in computers, is such a great risk and have lost "everything." As long as new ideas, new software, and new innovations continue to come out the other side will continue to find ways to break through and wreak havoc. Computers are great, and can be used for so much good, but it is important  that the risks are remembered and calculated. Computers will continue to change and will continue to change the world, but how far do we want them to go? How much do we want to have to rely on them? These questions are especially important considering that there are people who will find ways to break in, and if computers are programmed to do more and more, the possible damage these break-ins can do only increases.