1.2 Security Risks of the Internet
The risks associated with the Internet are advertised every day by the trade and mainstream
media. Whether it's someone accessing your credit card numbers, prying into your legal
troubles, or erasing your files, there's a new scare every month about the (supposedly) private
information someone can find out about you on the Internet. (Not to mention the perceived
risk that you might happen upon some information that you find offensive, or that you might
not want your children to see.)
For corporations, the risks are even more real and apparent. Stolen or deleted corporate data
can adversely affect people's livelihoods, and cost the company money. If a small company is
robbed of its project files or customer database, it could put them out of business.
Since the Internet is a public network, you always risk having someone access any system you
connect to it. It used to be that a system intruder would have to dial into your network to crack
a system. This meant that they would have to find a phone number connected to a modem
bank that would give them access, and risk the possibility of the line being traced. But if your
corporate network is connected over the Internet and your security is lax, the system cracker
might be able to access your network using any standard dial-up account from any ISP in the
world. Even unsophisticated users can obtain and use automated "security check" tools to
seek out holes in a company's network.