By Kelly Teal

In the ‘80s, the danger zone was littered with fighter jets and vestiges of Tom Cruise trying to act. In the ‘90s, the danger zone grew flannel and greasy hair (I still love you, Nirvana!). Now, nearly 10 years into the 21st century, the danger zone encompasses IP network security, and the highway leading toward it is fraught with darker, tighter turns than we’ve perhaps ever seen.

“If it’s IP, it’s sniffable.” So says security expert Richard Stiennon, who’s leading Monday’s “Danger Zone” session here at VON. That means that as more companies, institutions, governments and consumers move to IP infrastructure, the more potential there is for bad actors to hack, steal and even terrorize the networks.

Stiennon founded and runs consultancy IT Harvest. He told me that IP environments essentially invite “opportunities to do nasty thing, so hackers might as well go for the gold.”

The IT community needs to put up platinum walls, then.

Stiennon and his panelists, including representatives from Tekelec and Sipera Systems, will explore the emerging tools for building those walls, as well as tactics for dealing with specific security threats, which are inevitable.

So now, as you subconsciously hum along with Kenny Loggins, consider that the danger zone no longer is a place for machismo maneuvers or angsty self-loathing – instead, it’s an area that, if left unprotected or to chance, could cost you or your customers thousands, or millions, of dollars. Or worse.