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By Tim
Young
Do you lock your car doors? If you've driven into a major downtown area, do you hit the lock button on your keyless entry and make sure you don't have any valuables lying out on your back seat? How about if you're just running into a neighborhood coffee shop? In your own garage? According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2006, just under 1.2 million cars were reported stolen in the United States. That's substantial, but rather weak compared to the 15 million cases of identity theft that took place between mid-2005 and mid-2006, according to a Gartner report. No doubt a great many of these cases were the result of online fraud or intrusion.
However, awareness about security on the consumer end is growing every day. Desktop firewalls and anti-virus software are ubiquitous. Awareness about phishing and other common fraud is growing. It must be a very difficult time to be Nigerian royalty attempting to involve a lucky stranger in a legitimate monetary exchange. The public is getting savvy. Still, many of us put far more care in protecting our cars, which are less likely to be stolen, than our identities, which are easy prey.
However, we should go a step further. Let's look at the implications of wider security. Not security on the consumer end. Security that will protect private information after it has left the users safe little desktop lockbox. Security that will protect consumers from dangers they don't even know pose threats.
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According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2006, just under 1.2 million cars were reported stolen in the United States. That's substantial, but rather weak compared to the 15 million cases of identity theft that took place between mid-2005 and mid-2006, according to a Gartner report. |
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“Business-essential Web applications require automated, application-specific tailored security with visibility into the SSL encrypted traffic to effectively secure Web applications.” The ubiquity of web applications is certainly not going anywhere anytime soon, either. Users clearly enjoy the quick response time and ease of accessibility that webapps offer.
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One area that is particularly vulnerable to outside attacks is the growing world of web applications. Web applications are commonplace for millions of users. From webmail to e-commerce, to wikis and online games, it's rare for a user to navigate an entire day without using a web application, including applications that deal with sensitive personal data.
“Today, virtually every application is a Web application,” says Ryan Barnett, Director of Application Security for Breach Security, a firm dedicated to security for webapps. |
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However, doesn't excessive security run counter to those very selling points for webapps? “Any feasible security solution for protecting Web applications must not affect the availability of the Web application or hurt the user's experience,” Barnett concedes. Security measures must be unobtrusive and low-impact. A difficult duality, perhaps. Still, one that is necessary to provide if at all possible.
Back in 2003, Yankee Group estimated that
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