Word: network
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...problem is that with many networks based on TCP/IP, (the sort that comprise the Internet) a lot of the information flowing over them is accessible to parties other than the intended ones. Let's take the Harvard network as an example...
From the point of view of student housing, the network is divided into three large sections: Yard, River and Quad. Within each of these sections there are subnets, usually corresponding to a House (though some Houses contain many subnets...
...termination points for a subnet are the ethernet datajacks in student rooms. Within the subnet, the traffic on the network actually travels to all points, so that when you enter your password, the information is broadcast across the subnet to every datajack...
What prevents others from simply grabbing your information is that most of the time, your computer only views what is intended for it. However, there are tools that allow access to all network traffic on a subnet. Such a technique is referred to as IP-sniffing, and if put to malicious use someone can, for example, collect all the login information flying across the subnet...
...issue among the government and technical communities is just how good encryption should be and where. Even with the key system of securing network data, a persistent set of fast computers can "crack" the key by trying different permutations of bits. With the increasing speed of computers, keys get more complicated...