Building secure Web-based environments: understanding research interrelationships through a construction metaphor

Researchers are attempting to take the Internet to the next level of importance in people's lives. We can think of this as creating Web-based environments - communities of interest centered around a specific sphere of activity, where participants interact exclusively (or at least primarily) via the Web. These environments include all the buzz words that fill the media today, such as e-business, e-government, e-banking, e-law, e-learning, and e-health. Web surfing requires some minimal level of security, and online shopping requires a somewhat higher level of security. But participation in a Web-based environment can demand unprecedented levels of both security and privacy. This is why so much research activity currently exists in this area. Moreover, Web-based environments are complex and multifaceted; consequently, research into securing them is also complex and multifaceted. Thus, we might step back and put together a bigger picture of how this research is organized and interconnected