Net security now a shared obligation.(The Dallas Morning News)

DALLAS _ For information technology staffers, protecting computer systems from rogue programs has evolved into a daily procedure. Every morning when they come to work, many IT folks check around for software patches like the one Microsoft Corp. has made available from its Web site to inoculate servers against the "Code Red" worm.

Code Red struck Tuesday night, apparently with mild consequences.

The effort is all in a day's work for this crowd.

As malevolent cyber-terrorists across Asia and mischievous teens in New Jersey alike seek to bring down Internet sites, these tech services characters _ dressed in their logo golf shirts, with blaring two-way radios on their belts _ represent the new front line for the critical electronic ...