The threat to computer resources reached new highs in 1996. This escalation resulted in large part from the mad rush to wire into the Internet regardless of risk. With the rising popularity of the Internet as both a place of business and recreation, the threat to computer systems by crackers does not appear to be waning. In confronting the cracker menace network administrators now find themselves perpetually immersed in a crash course to keep up with the constantly changing defensive needs of their systems. The best way to confront these weaknesses is to understand the types of crackers and how systems administrators can better educate and arm themselves.
Internet attacks range from simple probing to extremely sophisticated forms of information theft.
Exploiting weak passwords, Trojan horses , routing attacks, exploiting the use of dangerous functions such as finger , sendmail , NFS , NIS , today's crackers possess a truly diversified arsenal of tools. In February of 1995 the world wide media widely reported the arrest of one of the world's most notorious computer criminals, Kevin Mitnick. Mitnick is typical of today's sophisticated crackers. He is highly educated, motivated, and possesses intimate knowledge of computer networks and their security systems. Using a laptop computer equipped with a radio modem Mitnick managed to tap into several long distance phone companies call routing systems and from there crack into numerous computer systems across the world.