Security, do we need it?

My very first security experience with a computer happened in, I think, 1995; my family had just gotten a PC in our home and I enjoyed messing around on it and trying to teach myself new things it could do, or easier ways to do what I already knew. I was playing around one night and all of a sudden a screen with the words “This computer has performed an illegal operation” popped up. I started freaking out. I was so scared that I had done something really wrong that I didn’t want to tell my mom, so I just turned off the computer as fast as I could and ran upstairs to bed. The whole night I thought the FBI was going to show up at my door and take me away. I would run to the window when I heard a car to check to make sure they weren’t coming for me. Laugh, I do.
Security is definitely a major concern especially today when identity theft and fraud crimes are rising and we are sharing more and more personal information over the Internet. Part of me feels that there hasn’t been a major technological attack because people want the Internet. Its benefits are so vast why would someone want to destroy it? However, with globalization and the spread of technology into third world countries who may not favor developed nations I ask should we be more concerned? After all terrorists are spreading their message using this medium, would they resort to destroying it?
I think the article we read included a valiant point; shouldn’t the computers security features be enhanced as apposed to the Internets? After all adding all these hoops that information must jump through would slow things down, and in today’s day and age slowing down is not the direction we want to be going. Obviously there are major security issues to be dealt with. One of my fears as a consumer is that the costs of developing a new system will be passed on to us. High speed internet is already a pretty high bill on my list. Yet, I do feel that we should do something. I myself have been safe so far, but you have to ask yourself is it worth the risk?