A few years ago, the National Science Foundation withdrew its financial support for (and control of access to) the Internet. Immediately, business and industry began to explore the possibility of Internet based business transactions. These explorations resulted in astonishing growth of the Internet and business activity which, in turn, generated the need for Internet based financial transactions.
While some security issues were addressed in the design of the networking technology used in the original Internet, its designers did not anticipate the potential for Internet based commerce. Consequently, because of the success of these initial experiments conducting a variety of Internet based business activities, it is now necessary to address many security issues as an addition to current Internet technology.
Internet based business activity is now being promoted in virtually all segments of the economy and a part of this effort involves gaining customer acceptance of and confidence in Internet based transactions.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has begin a certification effort which would provide an easily identifiable seal of approval of business practice which uses Internet technology. This certification provides a criteria for business practice, transaction integrity and information protection. Internet based business sites which have achieved certification may bear the WebTrust seal which includes verification of Internet based business practices by an independent CPA firm. WebTrust systems use VeriSign [Veri 98] public key encryption technology to transmit financial transaction data over the Internet.