Add to this a suite of high-value applications made by many companies, and the business case for improving security becomes even more stronger. In more details, by exposing critical business functions to the internet, Web Services can expose valuable corporate data, as well as applications and systems, to a variety of external threats. As it will be presented later on, these threats are not imaginary nor negligible. They range from acts of `net vandalism to most sophisticated, targeted acts of information theft, fraud or sabotage. Even movies have already been made, highlighting this exact phenomenon. Either way, the consequences can be catastrophic to an organization victimized. Given the potential risks, security must be a central focus of any Web Services implementation. In this essay, the threats and vulnerabilities lurking around communication systems are been addressed, as well as the information security technologies that can be used to combat them. .
2. The Threats Hacking and viruses have certainly been highlighted in recent years, because of their visibility. However, less visible threats exist, that can be even more malicious. .
Some of the main threat categories are:.
2.1: Hacking or intrusion: This category includes attacks whereby an intruder gains access to some area or set of resources that are intended to be off-limits. Classic examples are a web site being vandalized or confidential data from a mainframe being stolen by illegal access. The hackers is using a well-based knowledge of the system he is using and possess the necessary programs to achieve his goal. .
2.2: Social engineering: Although not directly related to cryptography (encryption of data), social engineering exploits the weakest point in most security systems, namely the people that use and maintain them. .
2.3: Spoofing attacks: In such attacks, a person impersonates another persons identity (usually the system administrator's) to gain access to a data bank.