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Chapter 4
NOTE
To find out more about whether a particular security option is
supported by your web server, check the documentation that
came with your web server software.
User IDs and Passwords
An easy and inexpensive way to provide Internet security is to use passwords and
user IDs. This option is attractive not only because it is inexpensive and easy to
implement, but because it's a feature available with most web server software.
Documents or directories are protected by requiring a remote user to provide a
name and password in order to gain access.
By installing user ID and password protection, you can set security down to the
web page level. However, user IDs and passwords are a minimal security
solution. For increased effectiveness, you should consider combining passwords
and IDs with other strategies such as IP restriction and encryption.
IP Address Restriction
Depending on your particular web server configuration, you may be able to use
an IP address scheme to tighten up security. More secure than simple password
locking, IP restriction allows you to secure access to individual web documents,
or to whole directories on a particular web server.
This scheme works by controlling browser access. Only browsers connecting
from certain designated IP (Internet) addresses, IP subnets, or domains are
allowed access. Used alone, this method has drawbacks and can be thwarted by
competent hackers using suitable equipment. Therefore, as a rule, IP address
restriction should be combined with user ID checking (passwords). In this way,
confirmation of a legal user's name and password can be clearly established first.
Encryption
As an Internet security solution, encryption provides the best overall web security
for the kind of information usually transmitted over the Internet. An encryption
method called "public key cryptography" is one such security option to consider.
In a public key system, you encode the text of a message with one key, and use a
separate key for decoding. In practice, the system is simple. You use one key, the
public key, for encoding, and another, the private key, for decoding.
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