1 - Introduction

Abstract

Information society is based on the unprecedented civilian deployment of security tools and technologies which is insufficiently weighted in the current accounts of the impact of the new information and communication technologies, such as the Internet. On the contrary, the advent of the Internet has inspired many utopian visions of society. Internet is supposed to bring an unrestricted flow of information. Eventually, this influx leads to the erosion of the role that traditionally has been hierarchically structured within organizations. Security tools have a long history, but they have always been applied on a limited scale in the context of hierarchically structured organizations, such as military, bureaucracy, or corporate structures. Previously, the deployment of security tools was in the hands of organizational apparatus that obeyed rules of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This may no longer be the case and it seems unlikely that technology can fully compensate for that lack. The spread of malware through the Internet proves that current computer security practices are insufficient.