“The operation of a web server raises several security
issues. Here we look at them in general terms; later on, we will
discuss the necessary code in detail.“
“We are no more anxious to have unauthorized people in our
computer than to have unauthorized people in our house. In the
ordinary way, a desktop PC is pretty secure. An intruder would have
to get physically into your house or office to get at the
information in it or to damage it. However, once you connect a
telephone line, it’s as if you moved your house to a street with 30
million close neighbors (not all of them desirable), tore your
front door off its hinges, and went out leaving the lights on and
your children in bed.”
“A complete discussion of computer security would fill a
library. However, the meat of the business is as follows. We want
to make it impossible for strangers to copy, alter, or erase any of
our data files. We want to prevent strangers from running any
unapproved programs on our machine. Just as important, we want to
prevent our friends and legitimate users from making silly mistakes
that may have consequences as serious as deliberate vandalism.”