P3

SECURITY RISKS

Viruses - Viruses are easily picked up and can spread vastly causing significant damage, computer viruses are able to copy themselves and infect your computer. If someone owns a website and it becomes infected with a virus, it won't only potentially affect the owner's computer and website but will more than likely spread to other users when they enter their website, so the virus could infect millions of people at one time. The website can be affected by crashing or becoming unresponsive.

Hacking - Hacking is referred to as the re-programming of a system to function in ways not authorized by the owner, administrator or designer. It is also referred to as the modification of a program or device to give the user access to features that were previously unavailable. If someone's website was to be hacked, it may cause massive problems such as the hacker gaining access to all the owner's customers details, they are also able to change the prices of products and all the other little details. They can change almost everything, so this is potentially dangerous for a website.

ID theft - ID theft is a form of fraud which involves using another person's identity, typically in order to access resources, to claim benefits and make money. This is particularly dangerous on the internet as many people share their details, thinking the internet is secure and others won't be able to access it, but it's very easy to retrieve information from the web. ID theft is most easily done through the internet, once you know how to hack into someone's website, you're able to retrieve a lot of information about them.

PROTECTION MECHANISMS

Firewall - Firewall is part of a network that is designed to block unauthorized access. It is a device that is used to permit or deny network transmissions based on a set of rules. When owning a web company or any other business, it is very important to have a hardware firewall (this may be a router) as well as software firewall because its important that someone has those when running a network of computers as it will help that person to prevent the spread of virus throughout his network. So if one computer is to become infected it won't spread to the rest.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) - The secure socket layer provides communications security over the internet. SSL encrypts sections of network connections above the transport layer using a keyed message authentication code for message reliability. For websites its very important to have a certificate showing you a secure website as customers are more likely to visit you and will at ease giving out their details. There is a process of what happens when a web browser connects to a secure website.


This is a screenshot that the web owners would have in each and every site. Everyone would have Terms and Conditions about the customer and the product that they're about to apply for or buy. The user/customer is meant to accept/agree the terms and conditions before applying or going any further with their registration.