Security in E-Commerce Systems

Technologie

The most used protection technologie in e-Commerce Systems is PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). A PKI consists of a Registration Authority (RA) and a Certification Authority (CA).

Tasks of the RA:

• Reception of certificate requests
• Authentication of persons and authorities
• Verification of data
• communicates confidentially with the CA
• Distribution and verification of certificates
• direct interface to the customer

Tasks of the CA:

• Generation of certificates
• Prolongation/Renewal/Withdrawal
• Validation, Cross Certification

For more information about PKI and Certificates see also: Digital Certificates and Digital Signatures.

Weak Points

The most frequent weak points in e-Commerce Systems are:

• too short and too simple passwords
• weak encryption (with too short keys)
• careless use with passwords and access data