[T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide] Blue6IX:
This intrigues me.

Computer security has always been a natural step for me, I worked for a locksmith for a while (wasn't family)...I love to tinker with stuff and locks fit the bill.

When I started to learn about computer security - it's simply amazing how similar they are.

If you learn how to set up a master key system, then you will naturally understand how network security works...the concept and application is exactly the same (excepting the physical difference between a key lock and a computer).

The layouts and delegated permissions are exactly the same - structure of different levels of master keys corresponds directly to different access permissions.

If you closed your eyes and listened to someone describing lock security or computer security (like users, groups, and who can get where) and how it all works...unless they explicitly or blatantly made it obvious which one they were talking about it would be hard to tell.

The thing that the people responsible for the security of a network have to do is figure out how to break into it. If you can figure out how to bypass the security of the network, then you understand how to do it and can come up with a solution. Much better to be doing this then waiting for it to happen...you're not gonna do any damage (unless accidentally) on your own network or one you are responsible for.

This is what locksmiths have been doing since the beginning of locks. How do you know if a lock works? If it prevents someone from getting to the contents. Much like network security, a lot of it is about either making it too difficult to be worth the hassle, or gaining as much time as possible so that some outside factor (police maybe) can alleviate the attack on the lock.

But you have to test the lock, and that's by trying to get past it. Who you are trying to lock out matters a lot too.

How do you know whatever security measures you have implemented on your home network work. Have you tried to ignore them and get on the network anyway...have you succeeded? Or do you just click a box on one of your network components and assume your network is secure?

I grew up keying locks and learning how to solve the puzzle of creating master key systems with my dad, it was great bonding time and the subject matter was something that interested me a whole lot, even as a kid.

When I got older and into computers more, the security aspect of it really tickled my curiosity. There are a vast many more variables in computer/network security then in even the most complicated locks/systems physically.

When it comes to locks, it can only become so complex before it's physically not usable. You could have a lock with 6000 pins in a row, and a key 500 feet long...but what would you mount a 500 foot long lock on, and can you even make a key strong enough to turn it, can a person turn it?

Computers don't have that limitation, because the storage space, ram and cpu speed of todays computers allows for incredibly more complex constructs, and the more powerful computers get the more complex security measures can get.

If you are studying computer security, then you should study how physical locks work in the world. It's a slightly different perspective, but you'll look at every lock you see and think about it. There are locks on a lot of doors, and if every time you see one somewhere in your head you think about what you know of locks ...somewhere in your head... it keeps it fresh in your mind, and you'll turn over problems quicker. Because computer security translates so directly to physical lock security, you can look at a physical lock and jog your mind on what you know about computer security.

How often do you see a car, and then think about what kind of engine it has, or options, or some thing about it. Maybe it's a movie, and you just think of who the actors are, maybe a little of the actual movie, just passively as your walking around in your life. Put in that context, how is it any different to do that with locks?

Aight, i'm done. Just decompressing after a long week of hard labor, and realized how far I was wandering in the post. This aspect of computing is I think my favorite part, and way more entertaining then video games.

But really, how do you know if the security of your network, computer, files and so forth actually works unless you've tested it?

Edit to add:

One last thing before I go -

The catch 22 with security, any security, is that if it can be created then it can be neutered. It may take a while, require some special tools or skills, but nothing can be crafted that is impervious. That's why just one layer of security (like a network password as probably the only thing...) should be nothing more then just the first thing you do, and not the end all be all solution.

If all of your barriers can eventually be broken, you would want as many and as varied as you can. It hit's a point where the computer exists simply to be security, which would be like a locked door guarding another locked door. (and nothing else, simply a locked door...what's the point?)

You still want to be able to use the computer, network, file, whatever so there's a trade-off between making it secure and making it accessible...

Maybe that's why I like this kind of stuff so much, because you can't just "win" you have to keep playing.