Security

One of the biggest hurdles of the Internet business and of e-commerce has been the issue of security. With billions of dollars being traded over the Internet, customers are naturally concerned about the security of their credit card transactions. Using secure server sockets (SSL) allows customers to send encrypted credit card or personal information through the Internet, without the fear of it being intercepted by hackers.

Businesses in particular need to protect their computer networks against hackers, since the widespread availability of the Internet makes internal company networks susceptible to attacks. Encrypting information between various branch offices requires businesses to place firewalls between the Internet and the network servers. VPN (virtual private networks) is an encrypted tunnel link, which provides the secure link for two networks to communicate with each other.

Page 10: Business Applications