The thrill seekers, voyeurs, hijackers, and old-school hackers are having a field day. The newspapers are replete with stories of hackers successfully compromising commercial Web sites. Many do it just for the thrill of the conquest. Others engage in outright theft or espionage. And for every story you read in the newspaper, there are at least 10 major infiltrations that go unreported.
Web servers are under constant attack.
Corporations with high exposure on the Internet must know the identity of employees, partners, suppliers, and even customers logged into their networks. PKI is something of a late bloomer. After a couple of disappointing years where its abbreviation seemed to stand for Private Klutz Invention, PKI is suddenly finding favor in the commercial market. It is far and away the authentication method of choice for the Global 2000, according to a recent study by the Aberdeen Group. At least in the short term, it would relieve IT staffs of the PKI-Win2000 burden.