Security, Commerce and the Internet
As the internet/world wide web (www), gradually became more available to ordinary computer users, it was obvious that it would become a target market for commercial retailers, financial services, etc. The benefits to seller and buyer are readily apparent - shopping and banking from home; travel arrangements; ticket reservations; and holidays can all be purchased quickly and accurately. Access to a modem and a credit card will secure a wide range of goods and services.This all seems a perfect system - immediacy, accuracy, convenience - the commercial transaction between seller and buyer simplified and streamlined. However, how can the security of the customer be protected? How can an internet user be sure that their details ~ personal information, address, credit card no.'s , etc. ~ will not be "snatched" by persons unknown? How can the person be sure that their absence from home is not being inadvertently advertised on the net? How can the home banker be sure that their financial status remains confidential? In this essay, I will be examining some of the above issues, and attempting to show that 'security weaknesses' do represent a barrier to commerce on the net; but I will also evalu
As you would expect, different systems provide different levels of protection against this form of attack. Basically, the more an OS has to offer you, the more likely it is to have breaches in its security. For example, UNIX, while being a complex operating system with a lot of functions and attributes would probably have more known security holes than a Windows OS. You have to balance up what you want your operating system to do against what you can afford in terms of security breaches. In conclusion, I would say that security weaknesses are a problem when dealing with internet commerce, but they aren't the major stumbling block. I feel that (especially in the case of the older generation) there is a fear of advanced technology, or perhaps just a fear of anything new. There is a "can't teach old dogs new tricks" mentality amongst some that is holding back the true expansion of commerce on the internet. I think that in time, as subsequent generations grow up with the influence of the net, commerce will flourish, by that time however, cryptography will have advance to the stage where shopping on the net is as safe as going to the corner shop. ate some of the measures currently available to strengthen security.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Commerce Internet, Encryption Algorithm, Electronic Transaction, RSA Rivest-Shamir-Adelman, Windows OS, IBM Visa, Basically OS, public key, credit card, public key algorithm, commerce internet, gain access, private information, seller buyer, decipher information, operating system, key algorithm,
Approximate Word count = 1036
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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