Network traffic across the global Internet network is free to the user except for the fees paid by the user to the service or access providers to gain access to the Internet backbone. Private companies bear the unseen costs of maintaining the major networks between the backbone interconnection points at network access points and metropolitan area exchanges, such as the east and west metropolitan area exchanges. The network transit fee structure is embodied in a bilateral agreement between Internet service providers called a peering arrangement. When two providers are similar in size, peering arrangements allowing shared network traffic are free, in contrast to the situation when the size disparity between two service providers is great, the larger provider charges the smaller provider a significant fee for network transit. The hot technologies to watch out for on the Internet service provider front are virtual private networks, tag switching and Internet protocol flow-switching technologies.
Internet security is the biggest impediment to electronic commerce.
Because no system can be made completely secure, access is a question of degree. Defenses against hackers include a series of trade-offs based on analyses of the risks when weighed against data loss. One Fortune 500 company reported the experience of deploying a new web server that was unannounced in the middle of the night. Within one hour, intruders attempted to break into the server. Security technologies and specialized security consulting firms that audit system security by performing batteries of automated penetration tests have grown quickly.