Internet Security By:Afteem Salameh

     There are lots of discussions nowadays about computer security as more people are using email and more services such as banking, mail orders and subscriptions through the Internet. In this report I’ll explain the definition of Internet security, its objective, methods, importance, examples, and benefits.  

     Internet security is the ability to browse the web peacefully, knowing that no one is looking over your shoulders whereas others see it to be the ability to conduct financial and commercial transactions safely.

(2011 Best Internet Security Suites Software)

Its objective is to establish rules and measures to use against attacks over the internet and many different methods are used to protect the transfer of data.

Internet security is important for internet users for it increases the e-commerce and online business which happens using cryptographic methods and protocols developed for securing communications on the Internet. These protocols include SSL and TLS for web traffic, PGPforemail, and IPSec for the network layer security. (August 05, 2009, Grass Roots Design)

What are SSL Certificates?

The SSL is a protocol created by Netscape and to which is a short form for secure socket layer certificate. This technology is used widely in the Internet transactions to make them secure. The protocol works in the following manner. First, web browser requests a secure page from the client side. Second, if the website already has it, certificate will be sent along with its public key by the web server. After receiving it; client’s side web browser checks for the validity of the certificate. If it is still valid and if it’s been issued by a trusted party ( normally  tested  through a Certificate Authority (CA)). If it fails on any of the checks the browser will display a warning to the end user to let them know. Then; the web browser uses its public key to encrypt the data and sends it to the web server with the encrypted URL required and any other encrypted http data. Decryption of the symmetric encrypted key will take place at the web server by the web server using its private key and the symmetric key to decrypt the URL and http data. Next, the web server sends back the requested html document and http data in the encrypted form; the web browser at the client side decrypts them and displays the information.

Normally a SSL certificate contains the company name, domain name, address with country, state, and city along with the details of your CA and your SSL certificate expiration date. (SSL Certificates HOWTO, September 2010)

Network layer security

TCP/IP can be made secure with the help of cryptographic methods and protocols that have been developed for securing communications on the Internet. These protocols include SSL and TLS for web traffic, PGP for email, and IPSec for the network layer security.

IPSec security protocol is designed to protect communication in a secure manner using TCP/IP. It supports network-level peer authentication, data origin authentication, data integrity, data confidentiality (encryption), and replay protection by providing security and authentication at the IP layer by using cryptography. To protect the content, the data is transformed using encryption techniques. There are many types of transformation that form the basis of IPSec; the Authentication Header (AH), encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards. (6 November 2005, Network Layer Security – Structure and Challenges)

Examples on websites using this protocol to obtain confidential user information are paypal, shipwire, regionalone, etc…

     Computer security is a vast topic that is becoming more important because the world is becoming highly interconnected, with networks being used to carry out critical transactions. The environment in which machines must survive has changed radically since the popularization of the Internet.

References :

Internet Security Suites Available

http://internet-security-suite-review.toptenreviews.com/

IPSec, 2011, available from:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/bb531150. 

 IPSec

http://www.grassrootsdesign.com/intro/security.php

Network Layer Security – Structure and Challenges

https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/talks/netsec-dimacs/index.htm