Nine Years Later, IT Security Is Even More Important To Business

Nine years ago today, Dark Reading collected the first clicks in its effort to keep the information security industry informed on the latest news and trends in the ongoing battle between attackers and defenders online. We didn't call it "cyber" back then (most security pros still frown on that term), but we knew we were embarking on an important mission -- trying to keep readers up on the latest threats, and the best methods for stopping them.

These last nine years have been quite a rollercoaster -- a constant ebb and flow of new attacks and resurgent defenses, of new malicious exploits and new strategies for mitigation. We've seen the emergence of Stuxnet and the APT, of Anonymous and DDoS attacks, of Heartbleed, and the ongoing challenge to SSL. We've seen the emergence of next-generation firewalls and behavior-based defenses, and a shift from perimeter-based "layered security" to a risk-based approach that is more about detection and incident response.

As a news organization, Dark Reading has changed, too. In the old days, we could cover most of the big breaches and vulnerabilities with our two-person staff, but today's compromises and vulns are coming so fast that even with four people and a great batch of freelance writers, we can barely keep up. The rapid change in the security landscape has caused Dark Reading to evolve from a pure-news site to become more of an online community, inviting input from all over the industry and adding better ability to comment and respond to every story and topic.

Through all of these ups and downs, though, two things haven't changed:  The importance of information security to the enterprise and the dedication of those security professionals who have taken on the task of defending it.

As devoted observers of IT security, Executive Editor Kelly Jackson Higgins and I have spent the last nine years marveling at the commitment and enthusiasm that security professionals have for their craft. No matter where we go, we see members of this industry working long into the night, talking and coding and arguing over the best strategies for defense. Sometimes they are sustained by Red Bull and pizza, other times they are socializing over a few adult beverages. But no matter how they are fueled, they are constantly at work, thinking, experimenting, challenging each other to do better.

At Dark Reading, we've had the privilege to witness this evolution, to learn from security's smartest people and to share that intelligence with our readers. We've seen strategies that failed, but we've also seen the takedown of major botnets and the choking of some exploits into near-nonexistence. Perhaps even more importantly, we've seen boardroom executives of major companies take a direct interest in the world of IT defense, finally recognizing the direct relationship of cyber threats and business risk.

Where will the next nine years take us? There's no way of knowing. But we know that since 2006, the bad guys haven't slowed down -- and neither have the enterprise defenders. We know that business leaders are prioritizing their efforts to stop online attacks, and we know that there is more interest than ever in sharing information and learning from each other. There is real recognition that (to paraphrase Ben Franklin) if the industry doesn't compromise and hang together, we will all be compromised and hang separately.

At Dark Reading, we hope we can play a role in that community, in the sharing of information, in the improvement of enterprise defenses. After nine years, the information security industry still has a long way to go -- we hope to be there to continue to document its evolution, and to help security professionals do their jobs.

Cheers to the last nine years, security readers -- the best is yet to be.