Electronic SecurityHave you ever wondered what happens to your credit card number when it is sent through a “secure” server to Yahoo or Amazon? Have you ever wondered: is my data safe? Unfortunately, no activity on the Internet is private or secure. Anything stored on a home system is completely vulnerable to the outside world (unless of course the system is isolated from the Internet). Another thing to consider is the fact that any data on any type of disk can be recovered. So, if a corrupted disk is deleted, the data can be recovered with the right tools. The same goes for computer hard drives, flash memories, compact discs, etc. There are indeed people who recover data to make money. These people usually don't discriminate against one customer or another, they just extract the data and hand it to them on a silver platter. In the movie The Net, Ms. Bennett (Sandra Bullock) works for a software company. She tests beta versions and debugs programs. She discovers dangerous information that ultimately launches her into an epic battle against a group of terrorist hackers, with her life and her identity at stake. Could this really happen? In theory, someone's life could be ruined and/or stolen. Taking control of an entire country's databases and networks would require a plan better laid out than the film's plot. In order to have access to secure national data; a very powerful decryption program would be needed, as well as a way to conceal the entry point. Having contact with the “inside” wouldn’t hurt either. The plot of the film seems a bit far-fetched. World domination isn't as easy as Hollywood makes it out to be. In the real world, most network hacks are used to conceal secret events and information, which could pose...... middle of paper ...... the choice is to be careful with information released to the public, forcing anyone who wishes harm to work for the information. Electronic security is a false notion because humans created the code or encryption in the first place. So other humans could also imagine ways to interrupt or modify the work of others. It's impossible to create code so amazing that it's unbreakable. If it is invented by one human mind, it can be understood and used by another human mind, over time. Screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. Real. Irwin Winkler. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Ray McKinnon, Jeremy Northam. Columbia Pictures, Winkler Films. 1995. Holeton, Richard. Composing cyberspace: identity, community and knowledge in the electronic age. New York, San Francisco, St. Louis: Stanford University, 1998 (Loups du Plateau. 132-142)