The web is an exciting but unstable place to do business. The potential rewards are high but so are the risks, and the effective management of these risks is likely to be the greatest business enabler/destroyer of the next decade.

Risk to e-business activities comes in many forms – fraud, espionage, viruses, spamming, denial of service – and the potential for damage or irretrievable loss is very real. Information security is no longer an issue confined to the IT department; it is critical to all operational functions and departments within an organisation. Nor are the solutions purely technical – given that two-thirds of security breaches are caused by human error, management controls and processes are equally important.

The Secure Online Business Handbook is a practical guide for managers in developing and implementing appropriate strategies for online risk management. The contributions draw on a wide range of expertise and know-how, both in IT and in other disciplines such as the law, insurance, accounting and consulting. Topics covered include:

• recent attack trends
• firewalls and viruses
• phishing and e-mail fraud
• operational management
• web protection
• countering cybercrime
• network vulnerabilities
• information security training
• online payments
• contingency planning
• software protection
• data recovery and forensics