【双语阅读】网络利弊之阴阳论

网络时代的最大难题是什么？安全隐患不容小觑。
Since the inception of computers and more specifically, our global reliance upon them, the number, severity, complexity, and source of security threats have all increased exponentially many times over.

哪里有问题，哪里就有办法。无奈僧多粥少，朝不保夕。
At the same time, threat mitigation solutions and tactics constantly are developing to deal with these threats.  These solutions evolve over time and balance out each each new threat. The problem comes, when threats emerge faster than solutions.

守卫者和破坏者的关系，正好可以用阴与阳来比喻。
The “white hats” (the good guys that help develop and implement solutions) and “black hats” (cyber criminals) have a relationship not unlike yin yang in Chinese philosophy. Seemingly opposing forces are interconnected giving rise to each other in turn.
无极生太极，太极生两仪。
Yin and yang are thought to arise together from an initial quiescence or emptiness and continue to move in tandem until quiescence is reached again.  For example, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them.  This will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more.

According to Chinese philosophy, Yin and yang will always have the following characteristics (And so, too, do “white hats” and “black hats”:

相克
They are opposing.  The good guys are always trying to stop the bad guys.  The bad guys are always looking for the next way to outsmart the good guys.

同源
They are rooted together.  For example, the discovery of a critical vulnerability will simultaneously start a flurry of development for patches and fixes by the good guys and malware and scripts to exploit it by the bad guys.

相生
They transform each other.  New technologies and tactics are developed to counteract the effects of previous technologies and tactics.

相随
One cannot exist without the other.  If all the cyber criminals disappeared tomorrow, you would have no need for security professionals. 

消长平衡，方是天地和谐之道。只是网络世界的平衡，何时才能到来？
But there is one characteristic of information security that is not always true.  Yin and Yang are always balanced, but information security is sometimes out of balance.