1.1 Privacy/Confidentiality Page 2

2.0 What are the current attempts being made to

improve e-commerce security? Page 3

2.2 Secure Socket Layers (SSL) Page 3

2.6 Intrusion Detection Systems Page 5

3.0 How successful are these likely to be? Page 5

4.0 What is your overall assessment of the current state Page 5

5.0 Will I buy online now. Page 6

As we progress into the future e-commerce is becoming an important part of all businesses as they try to capture and enter new markets all over the world. However, there is a reluctance by many to embrace this technology simply because of the unknown and the main issue of security when trading over the internet. With the reports of hackers gaining confidential information and abusing th

Hersupport.com (2000, Secure Transaction Protocols) notes that SSL provides data encryption, enables server and browser authentication, and ensures message integrity over a TCP/IP connection. SSL works in combination with public-key digital certificates and digital signatures to ensure the authenticity of a sever and client, if the digital certificate is not provided with a digital signature then they can be sure that an impostor is presenting a fake certificate thus, ending the transaction before any details have been forwarded. The security system does not end at this point, as Hersupport.com (2000,STP) point out it goes on to where the client randomly generates two pairs of keys that will be used to encrypt the transmitted information, which are then encrypted using the server's public key and transmitted to the client. A message algorithm and hash function are negotiated which secures the communication. Figure 1 shows us that SSL is used by 55% of online businesses as !

security measures, but other reports have shown that it is becoming more common throughout e-commerce.

The aim of this report is to investigate the main concerns business and customers are having with e-commerce security and what attempts are currently being made to improve this. The success of these security systems will also be examined in an attempt to provide the reader with an understanding of what are the best measures to undertake when considering security.

Some common words found in the essay are:
According Tresse, E-Commerce Security, Buy Online, Tresse Stewart, Detection Systems, Transaction Protocols, References Page, Scanning Virus, Privacy/ Confidentiality, Passwords Passwords, e-commerce security, tresse et al, et al 1998, et al, al 1998, page 2, tresse et, security systems, virus scanning, secure e-commerce, buy online, page 5, building blocks secure, blocks secure e-commerce, security building blocks,
Approximate Word count = 2501
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)