Technology from the past

 

My 2nd post is going to cover some internet history, more accurately, two technologies from before 1991 one that is still in use and the second that became obsolete. I have chosen TCP/IP and Telnet as the subjects.

Let us get started with TCP/IP. As of today, it is still the most used protocol suit on networks. It was designed in the 1970s by two scientists named Vin Cerf and Bob Kahn, also referred as the Fathers of the Internet. It all started as a research for a reliable way to transfer data between packet radio networks. The earliest version was called TCP (Transmission Control Program). The Internet’s predecessor was called ARPANET, and this was the first place TCP/IP was used officially from 1983. The TCP a.k.a. Transmission Control Protocol made the host responsible for the delivery of data without any loss and reliably. The IP a.k.a. Internet Protocol is there to ensure that the packet goes to the right destination through the network. This technology is divided into four layers: Application, Transport, Internet, Network Interface.

• Network Interface: responsible for transmission between two devices on the same network
• Internet: moves packets from source to destination
• Transport: provides data transport from a source system machine to a destination system
• Application: allows access to network resources

Our other topic is Telnet. It was developed in 1971, it is a protocol that allows command line communication between two hosts or a host and a server. The full name is Teletype Network. This form of communication protocol is outdated because the design is pre-internet so does not provide any form of encryption. Although it is outdated and not secure at all, in some specific environments you can find it to be used. Some servers enable remote connections using Telnet to access public data to play simple games or look up weather reports. Telnet was the first protocol that connected two devices over a long distance on ARPANET. Those who are unaware of how this system is used or implemented should avoid using it on purpose since by monitoring a network that is using Telnet all the traffic can be captured without encryption meaning that if a user types in a username and a password it will be represented as plain text and could be read by unauthorized persons as well.

As you can see newer is not necessarily better and the older does not have to be outdated. A lot of things were created in the past which are still in use. We should always focus on improving what we can but there are some things that cannot be improved.

Thank you for reading my post!

Balint Adam 2/8/2021

Sources:

https://scos.training/history-of-tcp-ip/

https://www.guru99.com/tcp-ip-model.html

https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/Telnet

https://www.extrahop.com/resources/protocols/telnet/