Taking proper care when in search of data

[David Magier]

> It is perhaps not altogether
> unnecessary to mention here, for the benefit of everyone, that it is
> EXTREMELY UNWISE to enter confidential data such as one's credit card
> number on any form of electronic system, such as the internet.   There is
> no way to control access to this information, and the possible  results are
> not happy to contemplate.  We should all beware.

I agree with Jonathan's note of caution, though I would mention that
at this point in time many large corporations are already conducting
literally millions of dollars in sales business on the internet in
exactly this fashion, with, apparently, some degree of transaction
security built in to their operations. I've personally done at least half
of my Christmas gift shopping at various internet malls and shops (on
the retail side), and the UNCOVER system is used as a commercial
document delivery service by hundreds of libraries around the US,
each of which has its patrons enter their credit card numbers to
purchase full text copies of articles. I certainly don't want to be
any sort of advertisement for UNCOVER, and I have always been cautious
and skeptical of things like this. But I do note the large numbers of
businesses (who must take care of security because they have so much
more to lose) operating on the net on the one hand, and customers
already using it this way on the other.
David Magier
 

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Date: Wed, 1 Feb 95 17:01:35 CST
From: steven edward lindquist <selindqu at midway.uchicago.edu>
To: indology at liverpool.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Taking proper care when in search of data...
Message-Id: <CMM.0.90.4.791679695.selindqu at ellis.uchicago.edu>

Both David and Jonathon have brought up the issue of security concerns and
the Internet.  While not related to Indology, I would like to clarify some of
these issues for the benefit of the group.  Having worked in computers and
dealt with security concerns, I should tell you that *no* email is secure
unless one bothers to encrypt it before sending it (which requires the person
on the other end to be able to translate it).  Now, this is next to
impossible (and extremely time-consuming) for someone to do.  If you are
purchasing via the Internet, do not send sensitive information via email. 
Companies (who know what they are doing) carry out sensitive transactions
with either (a) encrypted mail or (b) have something like a WWW site setup
the encrypts the information entered.  Entering info, in say a WWW site
dialogue box, is somewhat more secure though it should be noted that a
network specialist, if that person had evil intentions, could be watching you
do it.  Companies  also have various other security precautions, which most
Universities do not.  The rule of thumb about email is to treat it like it
was post-card.  What you write, accept the fact that someone may see it.

While "hacking" sensitive information from email is not *extrememly*
difficult, it is also not very common at all.  I don't want to make you
paranoid, just to make you aware.  I tend to send just about anything via
email, except those things which could cause financial problems.  Think of it
like your social security number... people could find out a lot of personal
information from it, but what is the likelihood?

-s

---------
Steven E. Lindquist
Dept. of South Asian Lang. & Civ.
University of Chicago
selindqu at midway.uchicago.edu
---------