Overview

One of the more difficult aspects associated with designing and implementing distributed applications is ensuring the resulting application is secure against theft or malicious damage. Distributed applications are particularly vulnerable to attack, as by their very nature they provide a means of navigating the network getting into the nooks and crannies of every machine connected to it. With the increasing use of the Internet as a means of gaining access to systems, the threat becomes even greater. At least 47% of U.S.-based companies using the Internet have suffered attack; 75% of them suffered financial loss.

So, security is a big issue and a service we would expect our middleware supplier to take very seriously. In fact, it is only the middleware supplier that can provide an integrated security mechanism as only middleware works across heterogeneous networks and machines no other software is capable of providing "end to end" security.