Web Security

Written for Web site administrators, developers, and end users, this book is a readable, real-world guide to securing your Web site with the latest in security technology, techniques, and tools. Lincoln D. Stein, keeper of the official Web Security FAQ, addresses your most pressing concerns and tells you exactly what you need to know to make your site more secure. He offers concise explanations of essential theory; helps you analyze and evaluate the risks that threaten your site and the privacy of your clients; and provides concrete, step-by-step solutions, checklists of do's and don'ts, on-line and off-line resources, and hardware and software tools that guard your site against security breaches.

Web Security approaches the topic from three different points of view—protecting the end user's confidentiality and the integrity of his or her machine, protecting the Web site from intrusion and sabotage, and protecting both from third-party eavesdropping and tampering.

You will learn about

• securing credit card transactions with the SET protocol
• document encryption with the SSL protocol
• how to guard end users against the dangers of active content and cookies
• monitoring and log tools
• controlling access with passwords, client certificates, and advanced login protocols
• remote authoring
• firewalls

In addition, the book offers practical advice on configuring the operating system securely and eliminating unnecessary features that increase vulnerability. CGI scripts introduce many of the security problems that plague the Web, and this book shows how to avoid these breaches with safe CGI-scripting techniques. You will also learn how to avoid denial-of-service attacks and prevent LAN break-ins through the Web server.

After reading this book, you will have the practical knowledge you need to ensure that your Web site, and your clients' interests, are safe from attack.

Lincoln Stein has an M.D. and is a scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. When the Web first emerged, he created and maintained one of the earliest Internet sites for distribution of Human Genome Project data and has since become an acknowledged expert in Web, network, and Perl programming. Known for his exceptional ability to synthesize and present complex information, he writes for The Perl Journal and Web Techniques magazines and is the author of four other books.