Scripting and Security in Computer Networks and Web Browsers

The automation and dynamic growth of an interactive web have created a huge demand for a new type of web programming to meet the growing demand of millions of web services from users around the world. Some services and requests are tedious and others are complex, yet the rate of growth of the number of requests, the amount of services requested in terms of bandwidthBandwidth, and the quality of information requested warrant a technology to automate the process. Script technology plays a big role in making the web active. Scripting is a powerful automation technology on the Internet that makes the web highly interactive. While scripting is making the Internet and, in particular, the web alive and productive, it also introduces a huge security problem to an already security-burdened cyberspaceCybercyberspace. Hostile scripts embedded in web pages, as well as HTML formatted e-mail, attachments, and applets, introduce a new security paradigm in cyberspaceCybercyberspace security. In particular, security problems are introduced in two areas: at the server and at the client. This chapter focuses on these two areas as it explores computer networks scripts and security. In particular, the graphic user interfaceInterface (GUI) and the Internet information exchange (CGI).