Customers, passwords, and Web sites

Criminals follow money. Today, more and more money is on the Internet: millions of people manage their bank, PayPal, or other accounts - and even their stock portfolios - on line. It's a tempting target - if criminals can access one of these accounts, they can steal a lot of money. And almost all these accounts are protected only by passwords.The solutions are not easy. The never-ending stream of Windows vulnerabilities limits the effectiveness of any customer-based software solution - digital certificates, plug-ins, and so on-and the case with which Malicious software can run on Windows limits other solutions' effectiveness. Point solutions might force attackers to change tactics, but won't solve the underlying insecurities. Computer security is an arms race, and money creates very motivated attackers. Unsolved, this type of security problem will change the way people interact with the Internet. It'll prove that the naysayers were right all along - the Internet isn't safe for electronic commerce.