Sample website security policy
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Examining Website Security Issues
It is unfortunate, but there are a lot of ways in which web site security can be breached. For example, security risks are ever present which affect Web servers and LANs (local area networks) on which Web sites reside, even by the customary use of a Web browser.
Web Masters shoulder the responsibility when handling the critical threats. As soon as a Web server is set up at a site, a window is created in the local area network through which anyone who's using the Internet can peek. Of course, for the most part web site visitors see no more than what they're supposed to look at, but just a few of them attempt to find elements of the site that aren't intended to be visible to the world. Malicious visitors intend to do more than just look; they endeavour to unlock the window and slither through it. The damage they may cause might be mere vandalism, for example replacing the website's home page with one of their own which could say or display anything, or it might be theft, such as gaining possession of a customers or orders list.
It's difficult to avoid the virtual certainty that complex software includes bugs. Regardless of how methodically it is tested, you can find typically some pattern of events or user actions, though it may appear on the odd occasion, that brings about a failure. Computer software bugs give rise to flaws in system security. A Web server is complicated software that can quite easily include a security defect.
It's not merely the intricacy of a Web server which may cause a glitch, but also its open architecture. Think about a CGI script as a case in point. A CGI script can be executed at the server in response to a remote call from a client. This could be a request from an application or even the click of a button in a browser. If the CGI script contains a bug, there will be a possibility of a security violation.
Network Administrators also have to tackle problems from Web servers by reason of the risk they pose to the security of the local area network. While there should be no unauthorised intrusions, admission must be granted to website visitors. This means that access to the network must be controlled. The Administrator therefore has to perform a delicate balancing act. Even the most sturdy firewall can be undermined if the Web server is configured badly. Concomitant with this constraint, normal use of the web site can be unattainable if the firewall is configured poorly. Attaining a model resolution is even more difficult if an intranet forms a constituent of the system. Commonly, the Web server then needs to be configured to recognize and validate domains and user groups, which are liable to have differing permission levels and access privileges.
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Almost anyone using a browser to surf the Internet trust that they really are doing so namelessly and safely. It is not correct. Web browsers may run self-contained programs on the user's machine that are located on a web site. Modern browsers show a warning and ask authorisation to execute those programs. Identified commonly as "active content", e.g., ActiveX controls or Java applets, these programs, if malicious, can easily deposit a virus or other hazardous software on the browser user's PC. As soon as it's in the system it can cause all kinds of havoc and can be very tricky to eradicate.
This is also a worry for Network Administrators. Web browsers provide a path for possibly malicious software to filter all the way through the local area network's firewall. As soon as it is in the system, the harm it may inflict can extend from stealthily gaining possession of confidential data to meaningless destruction.
Apart from the problems involving active content, simply surfing the Internet leaves a trail of the user's activities in the browser's history. This may be used by web sites and installed software programs to create an accurate profile of the user's behaviour and preferences. Though this might be thought of as an invasion of privacy by some people, it can be beneficial by providing germane subject matter immediately, so exonerating the user of the task of looking for it.
Privacy is an issue which concerns not just browser users but also Web Masters and Network Administrators in the actual transmission of data via the Net. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the fundamental language of communication for the Internet. When it was formed, security wasn't the principal aspect of its design. Both network and Internet transmissions should therefore not be considered as necessarily confidential. Every time the browser on a local PC downloads a confidential document from the remote Web server, or the browser user fills in a form with private information and clicks the 'Submit' button, the transmitted data might be intercepted without consent.
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