The Evolution of Information Security, Part One

In 1980 Alvin Toffler famously declared that there are three waves of civilization – Agricultural (lasted centuries), Industrial (lasted decades), and the Information Age (now).1 Each new wave pushes the preceding wave aside. Information security operates in the Physical, “Wired” IT (information technology), and Radio Frequency (RF) operational domains. So, in a similar vein to Alvin Toffler, information security has three conceptual waves occurring in the three operational domains. The first wave is Physical Security (documents locked up).The concept has been around since Julius Caesar created his cipher to protect information. The second wave is “