Fortunately, folks "woke up" a bit as a result of that event (granted, security wasn't really a concern at that time). Unfortunately, it was relatively quickly forgotten and it took another 10-15 years before security really became something that was looked at as anything other than an inconvenience or an impediment.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that nothing is going to change (with regard to overall security in general) until we have some huge event that negatively impacts a large portion of the population in a major way. Until then, things will continue as they are, and security won't be taken seriously.

I'm ready for the 2016 version of the 1988 sendmail worm (or perhaps something with the "average user"-visible impact of the 1990 AT&T crash), just to "get it over with" and get us moving forward.