Since the first edition of this reference was published, World Wide Web use has exploded and e-commerce has become a daily part of business and personal life. As Web use has grown, so have the threats to security and privacy - from credit card fraud to routine invasions of privacy by marketers to web site defacements to attacks that shut down popular web sites. This book aims to go behind the headlines, examine the major security risks facing us in the 20th century and explain how we can minimize them. It describes risks for Windows and Unix, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, and a wide range of current programs and products. Web technology - the technological underpinnings of the modern Internet and the cryptographic foundations of e-commerce are discussed, along with SSL (the Secure Sockets Layer), the significance of the PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), and digital identification, including passwords, digital signatures, and biometrics. Web privacy and security for users; hostile mobile code in plug-ins, ActiveX controls, Java applets, and JavaScript, Flash, and Shockwave programs are also covered.
Topics include CGI, PHP, SSL certificates, law enforcement issues, and more. Web content security - zero in on web publishing issues for content providers, including intellectual property, copyright and trademark issues, P3P and privacy policies, digital payments, client-side digital signatures, code signing, pornography filtering and PICS, and other controls on Web content.