Internet Security in an international Company

Enterprizes around the world have recognized the business potential of leveraging Internet tech-nologies and the Internet itself. Many businesses are becoming increasingly reliant on the Internet for communicating with customers, researching competitors and conducting e-commerce. This increased use of the Internet, makes business networks become more vulnerable to Internet threats and attacks, emphasizing on the need to address new issues related to the technologies involved, especially in the area of Internet and Network Security. These Internet Security attacks can wreak havoc on any business, leaving valuable data wiped out, condential information stolen or corrupted, the entire network made inoperable, or access to sites vital to business operations shut down. The 2001 Computer Crime and Security Survey, published by the Computer Security Institute, found that 85 % of all companies on-line reported computer security breaches within the last year. [1] Despite all the security risks and even though there is a considerable corpus of knowledge about tools and techniques to protect networks, detailed information about what the actual vulnerabilities are and how they are exploited, is not generally available. Therefore, only few organizations are taking sucient measures to protect their networks and applications, leaving the chances of security problems impact every sector of their business life to a maximum and hampering the eectiveness of any kind of security research and practice. The following master thesis identies the security vulnerabilities that companies, in particular Plasdan, face if they go on-line without taking the necessary security measures and examines tech-nologies and procedures that can systematically address those vulnerabilities. A detailed descrip-tion and comparison on various features of the extracted solutions, will give a broad understanding on the detection and prevention possibilities. Finally, a country dependent analysis, in combi-nation with a proposition of multiple product possibilities from a known vendor, as part of an implementation, will make the choice of deployment easier for the company.