Networked‐Computer Security
Bruce Schneier · 2015
This chapter talks about attacks on computers on the Internet. Malicious software is probably the first interaction most of us had with computer security. Malicious software includes viruses, Trojan horses, and worms. Together these are called malware. Malware generally has two components: a payload and a propagation mechanism. The chapter talks about how networks make malicious code more dangerous. It presents examples of mobile code and their problems. Like most information moving across the Internet, HTTP (that's the protocol used for Web pages) is unencrypted and unauthenticated. Many people are afraid to send their credit card numbers across an unencrypted Web connection. To solve this problem, early versions of Netscape Navigator included a protocol called SSL. This protocol, which will eventually be renamed TLS, provides encryption and authentication of Web connections.