FIREWALLS AND PROXY SERVERS

Initially, the Internet was used by academics and government workers who did not transact commercial business and who did not send personal information over the so-called Information Superhighway. With the introduction of the graphic interface that became the World Wide Web and the proliferation of commercial sites dedicated to new types of business transactions (e-commerce), the issue of privacy and data protection became increasingly important on the Web. Companies worried that key internal information could be stolen, individuals worried that their personal identities could be stolen, and malicious hackers indulged in programming activities that shut down entire Web sites or otherwise sabotaged activities on the Internet. Security is now a prime consideration for individuals, companies, and government entities that operate on the Internet, and a variety of strategies have evolved to address security concerns. This research addresses the use of firewalls and proxy servers and considers their application and implementation as protection devices.

Software threats can be classified into several categories that are generally tied to the motive behind the breach. Some software threats may be designed to channel funds from one account into another (personal/professional gain) or to cover up a separate illegal or unethical act. This is data tampering, which can be harmful and costly to an organization, but which

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ng work, in which case the network administrator can use a proxy server to block access to financial sites during certain hours," says Goulde. "All client requests for Web content go directly to the proxy server," says John Morency, executive vice president at Sage Research Inc. in Natick, Mass. If the IP address exists on the proxy, then the page is accessed; otherwise, the request gets forwarded to the real server and then to the Internet, he explains. If the Web site resides locally (on the proxy server), then the user can actually load the site without accessing the Internet. If the site isn't on the proxy and isn't marked as undesirable, then the request goes out to the Internet. "A proxy server can be configured to establish legitimate requests that get forwarded to the Internet and illegitimate requests that get kicked back to the client without being serviced," says Morency. Proxy servers enable companies to cache Web pages locally, which saves money because the pages are stored internally, says Joel Yaffe, an analyst at Giga Information Group Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Not using a proxy server is "like repeatedly paying 35 cents to dial 411 for a telephone number instead of writing it down on a piece

Category: Science - F