When a traditional business becomes an e-Business, the access paths to corporate data expand, and the need for an overall security methodology increases greatly. A key part of this methodology is authentication. Old authentication methods such as passwords will no longer suffice due to their inherent weaknesses as well as the growing sophistication of the tools and people attempting unauthorized access. Strong Authentication controls access and gives non-repudiation, or conclusive tracing of an action to an individual. Authorization allows authenticated individuals to access the appropriate areas.
Encryption protects data confidentiality.
Audit confirms process effectiveness. Each building block of the pyramid is dependent on the layer below. If one of the lower level requirements is not satisfied, successive requirements will not be fulfilled. For example, if an e-Business does not have policies and procedures for authorizing users for computer access, control procedures for authorizing users will not work evenly across all areas, and the lack of standards will make audit difficult, if not impossible. Individually, any one of these approaches has its limitations.