Securing the commercial Internet

HE great Internet explosion during the past two years is largely fueled by the prospect of performing business online. Prophets tell of the day when even the most mundane transactions will be handled through the Internet, along with the most sophisticated bank transfers in use today. The Internet can bring down physical barriers to commerce, almost immediately giving even the smallest business access to untapped markets around the world. By the same token, consumers can conduct business and make purchases from organizations previously unavailable to them. Armed with these goals, individuals have flocked to the Internet, and most businesses have set out to set up storefronts on the Internet and its WorldWide Web. Just about every major business in the U.S., perhaps in the world, has a home page on the Internet on which can be found information about their services and products. Despite the forecasts, however, consumers and businesses alike seem wary of this new medium for conducting business on a large scale. Given the potential for both consumers and businesses, why the apprehension? Insecurity The original Internet was designed for research, not as a commercial environment. As such, it operated A n i s h B h i m a n i Consumers as well as businesses wary of exposing secret financial data through the Internet's frail protection select from numerous patchwork security options incorporating protocols that may or may not turn out to be adopted as standards.