Nowadays it is hardly necessary to prove to anyone that connecting to the Internet jeopardizes the security of your local network and the confidentiality of the information it contains. According to some data, there were 2,421 incidents of local network and server hacking in 1995. A Computer Security Institute (CSI) survey of the 500 largest organizations, companies and universities reported a 48.9 percent increase in illegal intrusions since 1991, and estimated $66 million in losses from these attacks.

One of the most common mechanisms of protection against Internet bandits – “hackers” – is the use of firewalls.

It is worth noting that due to lack of professionalism of administrators and shortcomings of some types of firewalls about 30% of break-ins occur after installing firewall systems.

Internet architecture involves connection to external open networks, use of external services and provision of its own services outside, which imposes higher requirements for information security.

Internet systems use a client-server approach, and the main role to date is given to Web-services. Web-servers must support traditional security features such as authentication and access control. In addition, it is necessary to provide new features, especially the security of the software environment on both the server and the client side.

These, in brief, are the information security challenges arising from the transition to Internet technology. Further we will consider possible approaches to their solution.

Formation of information security regime is a complex problem.

Measures to solve it can be divided into four levels:

  • legislative (laws, regulations, standards, etc.)
  • administrative (general actions taken by the organization’s management);
  • procedural (specific safety measures dealing with people);
  • programmatic and technical (specific technical measures).

The very first problem of protecting information on the Internet is the human factor. Pay attention to e-mail. Do not open e-mails with all kinds of spam and advertising, and especially do not download attached files. Social networks are very popular now, for example in kontakte or classmates. Quite often I get messages or links to some obscure resources from my own friends with requests to vote for them in some contest, probably everyone has received such. Clicking on the link of such letters, you’re going to the page, which looks no different from the one that usually appears when you need to enter your account by entering your password and login. But no one pays attention to why you are suddenly required to enter your data. And look at the link in the address bar, you can see that the address differs only by one letter. For example, vkontakte.ru and vkontekte.ru the difference is little noticeable, right? That’s why your password is sent to an intruder. This is one example of how your personal information can be accessed by others. So be vigilant when surfing the Internet! You don’t give your keys to the first person you meet and you don’t invite them home. That’s how you should act on the Internet, too.