The protocols used on the NII will probably be less vulnerable. Still, the Internet can serve as a laboratory for many of the security issues that will arise in connection with the development of the NII, particularly as government and industry endeavor to assure full network interoperability. Gaining Access to the Internet An Internet user gains access to the Internet by logging onto a host computer. A host computer is a computer that is connected to the Internet and has the protocols necessary to convert information into a form in which it can be sent anywhere on the Internet. Currently, there are 2,200,000 Internet host computers worldwide.
Some hosts serve a user simply as an entry point to the Internet.
Other hosts serve as the end point, where they may provide users with one or more services. These services might include data base information, file transfer capability, or computational services. To log onto a host computer, a user provides an ID and a password. The most notorious lapse in Internet security occurred in 1988 when Robert T. Morris, Jr., a Cornell University graduate student, sent over the Internet a computer virus that reproduced so rapidly it overloaded thousands of computers. CERT's sole responsibility is Internet security.