Term Paper on "Web Security"

Term Paper 10 pages (4006 words) Sources: 8 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Web Security

The Internet places the whole world at the accessibility of our computers. In the same manner it also made each of our computers accessible by the rest of the globe. In the initial days of computer use, website security was not an issue to be worried. From the days when the Internet was originated with the academic endeavors to allocate information, it did not ever struggle for high security steps. In reality, in few of its elements, security was deliberately traded for simplicity with regard to sharing. (de Vivo; de Vivo; Isern 4) During the initial period of computing, the amount of computers and the amount of individuals with reach to those computers was only confined. The first computer security concern arose in the early 1950s, when computers were initiated to be applied to categorized knowledge. Confidentiality was the elementary security issue, and the elementary threats were surveillance and intruding of privacy. During that period, and till the recent past, computer security was normally an issue of the military that was revealed as necessarily being equated with knowledge security. From this point-of-view security is attained by safeguarding the knowledge itself. (Howard 6)

By the late 1960s, apportion of computer resources as well as knowledge, inside a computer as well as throughout networks, exerted added security issues. Computer systems having several users necessitated functional systems that could dissuade users from deliberately or inadvertently intruding against one another. Network connections also entailed added probable possibilities of attack which could not normally be attained in physical terms. Revelation of knowledge was not the only security problem. Supplemented to this was apprehension regarding maintaining the veracity of knowledge. Predictable wisdom ranging from this time was that governments are elementarily bothered with dissuading the revealing of knowledge, while organizations are chiefly bothered with safeguarding the integrity of the knowledge, irrespective of the fact that this continues to be less the matter. (Howard 6)

The digital economy of the present day warrants that businesses adopt the Internet to expand their market accessibility, effectively regulating their supply flow and sustaining links with clients and suppliers. (Gordon; Loeb 21) Ever since the last 10 years the Internet has been the issue of extensive security assaults. Security is presently a very prominent matter and several corporate organizations and other small and mid-sized companies have at times been objectives of attacks. Companies depending upon the Internet, confront remarkable risks to make certain that their networks function securely and that their systems go on entailing important services even at times of assault. (Householder; Houle; Dougherty 6) Often hackers slip their path into the Web site of a company and disfigure the website with scribbling or other messages. (Microsoft not alone in suffering security breaches) a teenager in Welsh could find out the credit card particulars of the richest man of the world, Bill Gates. Raphael Gray, designated himself to be the 'Saint of E-commerce', indicated that he just desired to demonstrate as to the level of insecurity these websites have. Gray and his associate sent the credit card particulars inclusive of Bill Gates to NBCi, an associate of the NBC broadcasting group. (Security Breaches: Dq-India)

Other illustrations of security breach associated when the perpetrators assaulted few the largest websites on the Internet, forcing to close down the online retailers like eBay.com, Amazon.com, E-Trade, Buy.com, Yahoo and ZDNet for a temporary time. The personnel of Yahoo explained this as a coordinated assault from over 50 Internet addresses. The efficacy of the assaults emphasizes the susceptibility of organizations that depend upon the net. Even the most complicated security regulations cannot easily identify and protect from an assault that depends upon the easy action of appealing a Web page -- although frequented about 1000's of times within a second. (Security Breaches: Dq-India) Extensive intrusion to the websites of America Online as well as RealNames has been reported in the year 2000. To illustrate, in September of year 2000, a hacker tarnished the Web sites including that of NASA as also the Communications Workers of America with pro-Napster communications. Further AOL indicated that hackers had intruded the accounts of members through e-mail attachments transmitted to AOL staff. RealNames, which is the net keyword provider service, also became susceptible to the account hacker. The organization that replaces complex Web addresses against the easy keywords indicated that the hackers may have accessibility to credit card information as well as passwords. (Microsoft not alone in suffering security breaches)

Microsoft itself has logged other breaches of security. (Microsoft not alone in suffering security breaches) Perpetrators accorded free reach to about 40 million e-mail accounts of Hotmail through a website. Microsoft that controls Hotmail is the well recognized free e-mail provider was compelled to shutdown the service for a temporary time after the site gave accessibility to any Hotmail account without the application of a password. The site also permitted false messages to be transmitted in the name of another individual. The originally fraudulent site, a Sweden based one was shut down by its host, but not prior to its infection to the sites in UK and U.S., wide-spreading the issue. (Security Breaches: Dq-India)

Another example with Microsoft was at the time when the test copies of Whistler, a future Microsoft functioning system for clients, were seeped out on to the net. The organization revealed that at the moment it had not arrived at any conclusions regarding how the inbuilt tests were delivered to the Internet. When such issues could affect Microsoft, it could affect any other company in an easy manner. The experts of the industry reveal that while several organizations have been narrating up security methods to protect important intellectual property as well as other information lodged in internal systems, they would continue to be susceptible to assaults. Steve Englund, who is an intellectual property attorney as well as partner of Arnold & Porter, revealed that corporate hacking events will prolong to be an issue and would most likely enhance even if how much well-equipped organizations are against threats to their information security. Once the information of an organization is diluted, it is difficult to get that in return. Even the FBI investigation might not even assist in solving the issue. (Microsoft not alone in suffering security breaches)

It needs to be noted that the incidents of website security breaches are not limited to the U.S. alone. Perpetrators from Pakistan disfigured the home pages of 60 Indian sites within a month, varying them to be websites dealing with anti-India messages on the Kashmir matter. A preferred target was the National Informatics Center servers which is the host of several Web sites of governmental category. Another well recognized concern of violation of website security relates to what prevailed at Bhabha Atomic Research Center - BARC, India. Indicating that the 'world is fortunate we are so good', Milworm, a hacker group entered into the local area network -- LAN of BARC and proved the myth of firewalls as well as systems of network security in the worst possible mode by recovering information on the program of nuclear weapons pertaining to India. The hacker JF expressed, "we have knowledge on their weapons, and their test projectories, everything, and we are performing this from throughout the world." (Security Breaches: Dq-India) the hacker group was capable of reaching e-mail sent among the BARC scientists, along with a list of nuclear projects which were planned and other files linked to India's program of nuclear research. (Security Breaches: Dq-India)

Viewing at all these examples, the question arises as to why is safeguarding sensitive data so problematic irrespective of availability of the various security remedies. An amazing variety of technical remedies is available such as "anti-virus, network firewalls, anti-spy ware, personal firewalls, intrusion-prevention systems, security management systems, intrusion-detection, and operating system patching solutions." (de Vivo; de Vivo; Isern 6) Why is it that security violations are still increasing? With all such techniques in our hand are we not capable of safely maintaining our really sensitive information. The reply to such question requires being a bold answer 'Yes'. However, we are not successful in our attempts. (Schuster 140) Irrespective of the fact that the advent of electronic commerce has forced for real security in the net, there is still an enormous quantity of users very risky to the assaults, mostly due to the fact that they are not knowledgeable of the kind of attacks and still consider that a good password is all they is required to be bothered about. (de Vivo; de Vivo; Isern 6)

The several of the computer encroachments that have been inquired over the last several years have been the outcome of poor individual selections, poor computing practices, and less satisfied knowledge dealing processes. Weak individual selections like clicking on any casual attachment that comes in an e-mail or installation of programs like screen savers from the net -- made computers and information there in vulnerable to viruses as well as spyware. Weak computer practices like applying poor or absolutely no… READ MORE

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