Internet Security

Preface

The Internet is global in scope, but this global internetwork is an open insecure medium.
The Internet has revolutionized the computing and communications world for the purpose
of development and support of client and server services. The availability of the Internet,
along with powerful affordable computing and communications, has made possible a new
paradigm of commercial world. This has been tremendously accelerated by the adoption
of browsers and World Wide Web technology, allowing users easy access to information
linked throughout the globe. The Internet has truly proven to be an essential vehicle of
information trade today.

The Internet is today a widespread information infrastructure, a mechanism for information
dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals,
government agencies, financial institutions, academic circles and businesses of all sizes,
without regard for geographic location.

People have become increasingly dependent on the Internet for personal and professional
use regardless of whether it is for e-mail, file transfer, remote login, Web page
access or commercial transactions. With the increased awareness and popularity of the
Internet, Internet security problems have been brought to the fore. Internet security is
not only extremely important, but more technically complex than in the past. The mere
fact that business is being performed online over an insecure medium is enough to entice
criminal activity to the Internet.

The Internet access often creates a threat as a security flaw. To protect users from Internet based attacks and to provide adequate solutions when security is imposed, cryptographic
techniques must be employed to solve these problems. This book is designed to reflect the
central role of cryptographic operations, principles, algorithms and protocols in Internet
security. The remedy for all kinds of threats created by criminal activities should rely on
cryptographic resolution. Authentication, message integrity and encryption are very important
in cultivating, improving, and promoting Internet security.Without such authentication
procedures, an attacker could impersonate anyone and then gain access to the network.
Message integrity is required because data may be altered as it travels through the Internet.
Without confidentiality by encryption, information may become truly public.

The material in this book presents the theory and practice on Internet security and its
implementation through a rigorous, thorough and qualitative presentation in depth. The
level of the book is designed to be suitable for senior and graduate students, professional
engineers and researchers as an introduction to Internet security principles. The book
consists of 11 chapters and focuses on the critical security issues related to the Internet.