Lecture 2

Internet, Intranets and

Extranets
The Internet
• The Internet is a public and global communication
network that provides direct connectivity to anyone
via a Local Area Network (LAN) and an Internet
Service provider (ISP).
• Access to the Internet is not restricted to anyone.
• A lot of information on the internet - users need
effective and efficient search engines to navigate
the sea of information .
• There is no centralized control of network and
information.
The Intranet
• An intranet is a corporate LAN and/or Wide Area
Network (WAN) that is secured behind company’s
firewalls and it uses Internet technologies.
• Although intranets are developed using the same
technology as the Internet, they operate as private
networks with limited access. Only employees who
are issued passwords and access codes are able to
use them.
• Firewalls protect intranets from unauthorized
outside access.
The Intranet (cont.)

ERP
Servers
Clients

Legacy
systems
Public/External Intranet E-mail
Internet Users servers

Web
Firewalls
servers

Databases
The Extranet

• An extranet implies an “extended intranet”, which

uses network technologies (like the Internet) to link
several intranets in different locations.
• By using secure tunnels for data called VPNs (virtual
private networks), the security of an extranet can
be improved.
• Extranets provide secure connectivity between a
corporation’s intranets and intranets of its business
partners, material suppliers, financial services, and
customers.
 The Extranet (cont.)

Extranet

Suppliers Intranet
VPN Firewall

Distributors VPN
Tunneling Internet

Intranet
VPN
Customers Firewall
Summary : Internet, Intranet, and Extranet

Network Typical Type of

Type Users Access Information

Internet Unlimited, General, public

Any individual with and advertisement
public; no
dial-up access or LAN
restrictions

Intranet Private and

Authorized restricted Specific, corporate and
employees ONLY proprietary

Extranet
Private and
Authorized groups
outside Shared in authorized
from collaborating
authorized collaborating group
companies
partners
 Firewalls

• Definition of Firewall

 Software and hardware that allows only those

external users with specific characteristics to
access a protected network
 Provides potential customers with secured
account, credit card, and loan information
 Usually located at a gateway point and controls
traffic between internal and external networks
Benefits of Intranet Application

• Enhanced Knowledge Sharing: Web pages can enhance knowledge

sharing
• Enhanced Group Decision and Business Processes: Web-based
groupware and workflow is becoming the standard intranet platform and this
enables quick and efficient decision making.
• Empowerment: All information can be made available to everyone with
the ability to know and act independently
• Virtual Organizations: Web technology enables quick communication
between departments and offices
• Project Management: Sharing reports and monitoring projects’ progress
is made easier with intranets
Benefits of Extranet Application

•Enhanced Communications
• Improved internal communications
• Improved business partnership channels
• Effective marketing, sales and customer support

• Enhanced Productivity
• Just-in-time (JIT) information delivery
• Reduction of information overload
• Productive Collaboration between workgroups
Benefits of Extranet Application

•Business Enhancements
• Faster time to market
• Simultaneous engineering potential
• Lower design and production costs
• Improved client relationships

• Cost Reduction
• Reduced travel and meetings expenses
• Reduced administrative and operational costs
• Elimination of paper publishing costs
Information Systems Security & Threats
Security in e-business and e-commerce typically entails
setting in place systems that ensure:
• Authenticity - ensures that the parties to a transaction are
who they say they are.
• Integrity - ensures that data has not been modified or
altered or interfered with during transmission over the
internet.
• Confidentiality – Ensures that only the people exchanging
information are privy to the information exchanged, in
otherwords, only the recipient can view the material.
• Availability – Ensures that the transaction systems are
always reachable and can service customer requests at any
time, i.e. continuity and accessibility of internet services.
Information Systems Security & Threats
• Most Common threat on the net is Malicious
Software (malware).
• This is software designed to damage, destroy, or
deny service to the target system.
• Examples of malicious software include: virus,
worm, trojan horse, bot etc..
Types of Malware
• Virus – They have the ability to replicate themselves
by hooking them to the program on the host
computer like songs, videos etc and then they travel
all over the Internet.
• Worms – Worms are also self replicating in nature
but they don’t hook themselves to a program on
host computer. Worm can easily travel from one
computer to another if network is available and on
the target machine they will not do much harm,
they will for example consume hard disk space thus
slowing down the computer.
Types of Malware
• Trojan – The Trojan is different from the
viruses and worms in that heir purpose is to
conceal themselves inside the software that
seem legitimate and when that software is
executed they will do their task of either
stealing information or any other purpose for
which they are designed. They often provide
backdoor gateway for malicious programs or
users to enter your system and steal your
valuable data without your knowledge and
permission.
Types of Malware
• Bots –: They are automated processes that are
designed to interact over the internet without the
need of human interaction. Malicious bot can infect
one host and after infecting will create connection
to the central server which will provide commands
to all infected hosts attached to that network
called Botnet.
• Other malware include adware, spyware,
scareware, ransomware, rootkits etc.
Other Security Threats
• Theft of intellectual property means violation of intellectual
property rights like copyrights, patents etc.
• Identity theft means to act as someone else to obtain
person’s personal information or to access vital information
they have like accessing the computer or social media
account of a person by login into the account by using their
login credentials.
• Theft of equipment and information is increasing these days
due to the mobile nature of devices and increasing
information capacity.
• Sabotage means destroying company’s website and other
computing resources to cause loss of confidence on part of
its customer.
Security Measures
Security measures can include:
• Anti-virus and anti-malware solutions that ensure
systems are not infected by malicious code
• Firewall systems which keep out unwanted traffic
• Secure mail services with spam filters to reject
unwanted email messages
• Backup systems to take backup of all company data.
• Strong physical security measures like access control
to sensitive areas, biometric authentication and
many others