How long have you been involved with the internet? I suppose the first time I got involved was back in 1986 through what was then JANET, the higher education network. It was a rather different world 14 years ago!
How would you define "ethical hacking"? Essentially there are really two sorts of ethical hacking. The first is conducting penetration tests of systems. The other is analysing in detail systems or software that you own for security flaws.
How secure is the internet? In general, it's actually relatively secure. I used to work a lot with the nuclear industry and it's the same sort of fear, uncertainty and doubt. Because people don't understand it, they become frightened of it, whereas most people seem perfectly happy to pass their credit card information out over the phone. The realistic risk is not that a transaction is going to be sniffed out of the blue, rather that someone is going to break in and steal a huge data-base of credit card details.
What are the best security measures that people can implement? The best security measure people can take is to use their brains; actually think about what they're going to do and how they're going to do it. Security is very complicated and it's moving all the time, especially with the new Data Protection Act - it's no longer just a financial issue. You now have a hard, legal responsibility to keep data protected. Security is also about appropriate security - I know the man that runs www.royal.gov.uk and that has got to be incredibly secure even though it's an information only site. They're a target - similar to the FBI ) and Whitehouse sites in the US.
Any favourite places on the net? On the security side my favourite site has to be Packet Storm and Security Focus is very good too. On the recreational side I like User Friendly and Dilbert, BBC News, especially if I'm working abroad, and Flash.
How do you see the net evolving? I think that there are a number of things that are going to have to happen. The internet has to become commercially reliable. Particularly in the UK, broadband net access is going to have to become cheaper - my websites are hosted in California because it costs me less to have a large amount of corporate web-space out there than it does for my home internet access. I think the current stock valuations for dot.com companies are ridiculous and over the years we're going to realise that the internet is just another means of advertising and selling. And we need to make sure that access to the net and technology is available to everyone who wants it so that no one is left behind. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate.
