Having programs embedded in Web pages that can run on any platform is an excellent idea. But in order to get this power, users take a great deal of risk. A Web surfer can click over to a Web page with an embedded applet that immediately and automatically begins executing. Often, the user doesn't even know this is happening. This situation might not be so bad if the Java environment being used were 100-percent secure. However, to make Java really secure would require making it completely impotent.8 There is a price that must be paid for the power of executable content. This price is very similar to the price that must be paid in order to connect to the Internet in the first place. (In fact, if you decide Java security risks are too much to bear, you should ask yourself what you are doing connected to the Internet at all!) The bill is payable in terms of risk and exposure to attack. The question is, how much risk are you willing to take? How critical is the information on your machine? Our goal in writing this book is to arm the reader with the data that are needed to make an informed, intelligent decision about Java, both as a system for mobile code and as a development platform.
How often do you download executable code from various unknown sites on the Net? Do you think about where the code is coming from and who wrote it? Do you know what it will do before you run it? Even if you are particularly cautious about downloading binaries from the Net, the answers to the questions raised will undoubtedly soon change. Applets are cropping up everywhere. At the moment, surfing the Web with a Java-enabled browser is tantamount to downloading and running arbitrary binaries, albeit with some level of security provided by Java. Deciding whether this is a good idea is an important decision that is as personal as a financial investment strategy. It is worth repeating that there is no such thing as perfect security. This is true for any system on the Internet, not just systems using Java. Someone will always be probing Java security, trying to find new ways around or through the existing system. In the real world, all you can expect is reasonable security. The solution to this conundrum is finding an acceptable tradeoff between functionality and security.
The Internet can be a dangerous playground. Java offers an intriguing approach to the problem of security by neither ignoring it entirely (as most languages do) nor being completely paralyzed by it. Deciding what level of risk to incur is really a matter of weighing the potential costs of using Java against the clear benefits of using Java. Making an informed and intelligent decision requires understanding both aspects of the situation. Business people are always weighing costs and benefits when making complicated decisions. The same sort of careful consideration that goes into forming a business plan should also go into the formulation of a Java use policy. The Java hype machine has been exceptionally good at broadcasting the benefits of Java. It has been successful largely because Java really does have vast potential. On the other hand, the advertising has been slightly less straightforward about the risks. (To this day we hear claims that Java is 100-percent secure, or that there is no need to worry about Java security.) This may be because the risks are complicated and sometimes difficult to understand. Computer security is a new field to many users, and few people are aware of all the issues. As Java applets become ubiquitous, it behooves us to become more aware of security issues. Ignorance is not bliss.
Chapter... Preface -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8 -- 9 -- A -- B -- C -- Refs
Copyright ©1999 Gary McGraw and Edward Felten. |
