Stephen Cobb

About the author: Stephen Cobb is the director of special projects for the National Computer Security Association, a Carlisle, Pennsylvania, organization that works to improve the security of computer users' information systems.

The Internet is attracting tremendous interest among businesses and consumers. Making Internet commerce secure is one of the biggest challenges facing information security experts. Security problems affect three areas of Internet commerce: credit card transactions, encrypted transactions between systems, and verification of the authenticity of communications. Security standards for Internet transactions will not automatically result in secure exchanges. Electronic vandalism, reliability and performance problems, and security infractions committed by employees are security issues that will continue to require attention.

Information security or infosec is about protecting three things: the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. Securing Internet commerce is probably the biggest...