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 can be approached from the standpoint of preventing or controlling access to data. In addition to data tampering, threats include viruses, worms, Trojan horses, bombs, trap doors, and spoofs, among others.
A virus is a code fragment that copies itself into a larger program, thus modifying that program. Viruses are not independent programs, but instead executes only when their host program is run. The virus then replicates itself, infecting other programs as it reproduces. Viruses can reproduce immediately, or they ma...