Introduction to Part I

In enterprise systems, a security exposure is a form of possible damage in the organization's information and communication systems. Examples of exposures include unauthorized disclosure of information, modification of business or employees' data, and denial of legal access to the information system. A vulnerability is a weakness in the system that might be exploited by an adversary to cause loss or damage. An intruder is an adversary who exploits vulnerabilities, and commits security attacks on the information/production system.

Electronic security (e-security) is an important issue to businesses and governments today. E-security addresses the security of a company, locates its vulnerabilities, and supervises the mechanisms implemented to protect the on-line services provided by the company, in order to keep adversaries (hackers, malicious users, and intruders) from getting into the company's networks, computers, and services. E-service is a very closely related concept to e-privacy and it is sometimes hard to differentiate them from each other. E-privacy issues help tracking users or businesses and what they do on-line to access the enterprise's web sites.

Keeping the company's business secure should be a major priority in any company no matter how small or large is the business of the company, and no matter how open or closed the company network is. For this intent, a security policy should be set up within the company to include issues such as password usage rules, access control, data security mechanisms and business transaction protection.