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A Short History of the Internet

Our journey begins with a description of the evolution of the Internet and the emergence of a new type of fraud and abuse that leverages botnets.

From ARPANET to the Metaverse

The Internet is so ingrained in our day-to-day life that it seems as though it's always been around. However, the Internet is a relatively new invention—and it keeps evolving. The precursor of the Internet, called the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), was invented in the 1960s, in the middle of the Cold War, to ensure continuity of availability of the network and computing resources even after a portion of it is removed or destroyed. Government researchers could also share information quickly without requiring them to travel to another location. ARPANET was a closed system using proprietary protocols, and only explicitly authorized people could access it. The idea of a network where one could share information and computing resources sparked the interest of academics, and the need for standardized communication protocols arose. Various communication protocols, including Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Domain Name System (DNS), were developed in the 1980s, marking the birth of the Internet as we know it today. TCP/IP defines how information is exchanged between two machines on the Internet. DNS, the equivalent of the phone book, transforms a hostname into the IP address where the service can be found. HTTP defines how web content is to be requested and shared between the browser running on the client and the web server. These protocols enable communication between systems from different vendors and connect them. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and, later, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols add a layer of security and safety to the HTTP protocol. Newer languages like HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript were invented to help develop websites and make content available in a structured and dynamic way.

Initially, the Internet was reserved for the technical elite who knew the protocols, had the right equipment, understood how to connect to the network, and knew how to query it to retrieve information. The development of web browser software in the 1990s, like Netscape and Internet Explorer, compatible with all of the aforementioned protocols and languages, made the Internet accessible to all. Web search engines such as AltaVista, Yahoo! Search, and Google Search also made it easier to query and find information online. When I was a college student in the 1990s, the Internet was in its infancy. All you could do was visit various websites to find information. Most news outlets would have a website with the latest sports results or events of the world. Major retailers started to create websites to showcase their products, and airlines advertised their flights. But e-commerce wasn't quite a thing just yet, and we still had to go to a brick-and-mortar shop to buy products or to a travel agency to book a flight.

Rapid technological advancement, including faster modems and expansion of the network infrastructure, supported the growth of the Internet. As the Internet grew more popular, investors started pouring money into a multitude of Internet companies with the hope of turning a profit one day.  These companies' valuations, which were purely based on speculative future earnings and profits, surged in the late 1990s with record-breaking initial public offerings (IPOs) that saw their stock triple within a day. These events fueled an irrational investment strategy from venture capital firms to companies that sometimes did not have a strong business plan or viable products for fear of missing out. In March 2000, large stock sell orders from leading high-tech companies like Cisco or Dell caused a panic sale and marked the beginning of the decline of the “Internet bubble.” Investors became more rational, and capital became harder to find for startups that were not profitable. Many of these cash-strapped startups disappeared rapidly. Companies that reorganized and refocused their effort on developing valuable services and products survived, and some, like Akamai Technologies, Google, Amazon, and Apple, became very successful and key players in the development of the Internet.

When the bubble burst, it felt like a setback, but eventually, the Internet not only survived but started to thrive. As the quality of the Internet network improved, so did the content. The classic dial-up modem connection that had a maximum speed of 56Kbps was soon replaced by a more advanced and reliable network and telecom infrastructure. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) offered speeds of up to 128Kbps, more than double what a dial-up modem could achieve. At the turn of the century, digital subscriber lines (DSLs), which offered high-speed Internet, became more widely available through conventional telephone networks, cable, and fiber optics. Today, Internet service providers offer connections as fast as 10Gbps, which is 178,571 times faster than the fastest dial-up modem. Advancements in mobile telecommunication and the emergence of smartphones meant that consumers could access the Internet from anywhere at any time for the first time. Mobile network expansion also helped expand the reach of the Internet to rural areas. Today, one can even browse the Internet while on a plane or cruising on the ocean, thanks to satellite networks.

As more and more people were drawn to the Internet, the distribution of rich content became a real issue. The networks that carried the Internet traffic did not always have the adequate capacity to handle the demand. Telecom operators would do their best to route the traffic, but frequent congestion and often long distances between the client and the server led to slow page load or stream buffering for Internet users, especially during popular events. Content Delivery Network (CDN) companies like Akamai Technologies, Fastly, and Cloudflare, to name a few, became the backbone of the Internet. CDNs helped fix the problem by avoiding transporting the content long distances and bringing it closer to the user. CDNs helped make the Internet faster and more reliable. I've worked on and off for the biggest CDN company in the world, Akamai Technologies, since 2006 and saw the Internet evolve from a front-row seat.

Let's look at different types of websites and services that became available on the Internet and how they managed to turn their online presence into a revenue stream.

Social Media  The first decade of the 21st century saw the emergence of social networks with Myspace, Hi5, Friendster, Tagged, Bebo, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (now X), Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Storing and delivering user-generated content (photos, videos, articles) to someone's restricted circle was challenging and costly. CDN providers like Akamai had to adapt to the new trend and develop a multi-tier caching strategy to store and deliver content efficiently. Many of the early social media companies did not survive, mainly because they could not figure out how to monetize their content. Facebook, Instagram, X,  YouTube, and LinkedIn fared the best and remain the biggest social networks in America and Europe. But these established platforms are getting some competitive pressure from new entrants like TikTok, favored by younger crowds. The primary source of revenue for social media companies comes from online advertisements or premium membership.

Dating Websites   Dating sites such as Match, eharmony, and Tinder piggybacked on the social networking model. The business model and monetization aspects were much more straightforward for them. Instead of flooding their users with ads, they would charge a monthly subscription fee to give them access to millions of profiles and connect them with compatible people who share their interests.

Media Websites   Websites belonging to the largest broadcasters, like NBC, first published news articles or content about shows on their site. Then, progressively, they started streaming their programs online or making them available on demand. It took broadcasters a while to find a way to monetize the Internet, but, in the end, the solution to monetize free content consisted of building technology to interrupt playback or a live stream with commercials. Later, media sites also introduced online subscriptions or pay-per-view for premium content. What was challenging initially for broadcasters was the need to support multiple proprietary formats such as QuickTime from Apple, Windows Media, and Adobe Flash. It was also a significant headache for CDN companies, as they had to maintain several networks to support all these formats. Standardization of protocols like HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) or WebRTC normalized the streaming methods. What made things even more challenging was that the screens that users used to watch the content became bigger and bigger with the introduction of smart TVs. Media websites wanted to offer the same quality of picture whether the user watched through traditional cable or satellite services or online. The image quality also had to be the same whether the user watched from a phone connected to a mobile network, a tablet connected to a medium-speed residential Internet service provider (ISP), or a large-screen TV connected to a high-speed Internet connection. This required CDN companies to support different bitrates and ever-increasing standards, starting with standard resolution, followed by High Definition (HD), Ultraviolet, 4K, and...