Resumen
This article discusses the changing perception of the people towards the use of computers. Computers are no longer viewed as mere number-crunching devices nor is the use of computers limited to the scientific and engineering communities. The advent of high-speed networking technologies has made information sharing through the Internet a prevailing practice for every conceivable segment of society from governments to business and industry to private citizens. Every day, millions of people use the Internet to search for different kinds of information stored in computers and databases that may be on the other side of town or half a world away. While most of these users access data legitimately, some use illicit ways to access and invade other computers. It is extremely hard to protect systems from all types of unauthorized access. According to the article, the objective of defensive information warfare ranges from ensuring authorized use of computer resources to providing complete, uninterrupted operation of computer systems throughout all of the phases of an information attack and defensive information warfare will remain an active research and development area for years to come as new technologies emerge.