Introduction

Many pundits have described the current era as the information age the dawn of a bright new future, a time when the barriers to communication have been dismantled, allowing the formation of virtual communities that span the globe. Businesses now have the ability to project their presence beyond the normal confines of geography, enabling them to reach out to a market that years earlier they would have, by necessity, ignored. Recreational users of the Internet share information and experiences almost instantly with people a world away. The application of Internet technology and the associated opportunities seem endless. And that is part of the problem.

With every opportunity comes risk. In the world of the Internet, this risk often materializes in the form of security. The Internet and security are inextricably linked one should always accompany the other. Security should always be a byword when using the Internet, but some believe the mere use or integration with the Internet eliminates the ability to be secure in the first place.

Security is an evolving field where the good guys always seem to be one step behind the bad. The list of security risks a security officer or administrator may have to contend with reads like a science fiction novel. In a single week, they could be expected to counter threats posed by highly contagious viruses, trojans, worms and even be attacked by zombies. Recently one of the newer additions to the security officers' lexicon of despicable terms was the highly publicized Distributed Denial...