The Internet and similar networks provide new infrastructures for communications and
commerce. These open networks interconnect computers across many different
organizations with dramatically lower communications and distributed applications
development costs. This motivates businesses to transfer commercial activity from closed
private networks to open networks like the Internet.
However, open network architectures are vulnerable to a number of different security
threats. While many different hardware and software solutions exist to secure transactions
over the Internet, greater consensus is required by companies and consumers on the
processes, organizations and application of existing technical solutions for secure
electronic commerce. Greater consensus on security among trading parties will lower the
costs of electronic commerce and accelerate its deployment on the Internet.Information Systems Working Papers Serie