Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
It is said that computer security is like getting into bed with an elephant. You know you have a problem, but you can't get your arms around it! Looking at security from a distributed point of view makes this elephant seem much bigger! The growth of the Internet (see chapter 2) is also not very comforting to computer security specialists.
Companies want to start utilising the Internet for their business transactions, while the man on the street wants to use it for what they deem necessary or convenient. It is becoming more and more common placed to buy items from virtual storefronts by making use of the Internet. [17,20,23]
Literature, as well as the World Wide Web has supplied us with information [34] regarding the "war" between the IT Security Professional and the hacker community. It is quite surprising to see the large number of hacker sites on the Internet [15,16,21] that publish information regarding hacked sites, as well as tools and techniques that can assist almost anyone in accomplishing some of these sometimes, daring feats.
If this information is studied and if we keep in mind that some of the more serious hacking attempts are being kept secret for reasons like loss of business or credibility, it might be deduced that the hacker community is always a step or two ahead of
Security Professionals.
It is the purpose of this thesis to present a model that will ensure secure, anonymous communication across the Internet This model is not aimed at replacing current technologies. It merely attempts to provide an alternative method for safe communication across public networks, like the Internet. The model will make use of a number of existing technologies in conjunction with one another to achieve its goal of secure, anonymous communication. The technologies that will be used and how will be discussed briefly in this chapter.