Internet Security: A Global Concern
How many people make purchases online? What is the percentage of Americans who conduct their personal financial business over the Internet? Did he or she ever think that their credit card information could possibly be stolen? Internet security for online buyers and eMerchants has become more of a problem with the enormous growth of eCommerce on the Internet in recent years. The security and privacy of data on the Internet may be at greater risk than one would like to think. Many consumers avoid using the Internet to do their banking and purchasing solely because they have concerns about the access that could be gained to their financial information, including credit card numbers, account balances, and Internet usage history. At a recent conference on Internet security and privacy, John McCarthy of Forrester Research estimated that eBusiness "could have been $12 billion greater this past year if consumers' security concerns were fully addressed" (qtd. in Frishberg 2). There is now some protection to help defend against the threat of hackers, but still no guaranteed solution to the Internet security problem. While the Internet can never be totally secure, major steps have been made in security technology in the attempt to m
There is a sense that upper management personnel have not quite realized the extent of damage that security breaches can do, both in disruption of business and in actual loss of income. Of all the respondents, 79 percent indicated that they have concerns about online privacy and security. From the inadvertent downloading of a destructive virus into a home computer to the shut down of large corporate websites that cost incredible amounts of money in loss of productivity and software damage, the lack of true security is a critical concern for governments, businesses, and consumers (who eventually pay for these disasters in higher prices for goods and services). Over the past year, the industry has experienced sensitive user data posted on a Web site, denial of service attacks, expensive clean-ups following virus attacks, and losses in productivity due to unplanned downtime. Media coverage of computer viruses and cyber attacks on large corporations has brought public concern about security to a higher level than ever before. The so-called "e-tailers" also have difficulties conducting business on the Internet, experiencing an increasing amount of fraud each year. While data scrambling is sufficient to discourage the casually curious person, it does not stop the serious hacker. There are safeguards and solutions to a great many of the Internet security issues. Another type of technology that can be utilized at the corporate and personal level is the firewall. Concerns include criminal access to credit information, the tracking of user's buying habits by interested parties, and fraudulent practices by eMerchants. A recent survey indicated that 83 percent of online merchants believe that fraud is a critical issue, a 13 percent higher number than in 1999 (Delio 1). Two methods of attacking data are the introduction of destructive viruses into systems connected to the Internet and the actual hacking into large computer databases by cyber criminals with the intent to steal information. This controversy has proponents for government intervention, for self-regulation by members of the eCommerce community, and for an agency that would be controlled by the people who actually power Internet businesses, the consumer. A relatively new tool, the digital signature, "is an unforgeable piece of data asserting that a named person wrote or otherwise agreed to the document to which the signature is attached" ("Introduction to Cryptography" 1). This is software that can protect equipment and data from electronic attacks.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
