Guidelines On Active Content And Mobile Code

The private and public sectors depend heavily upon info. tech. systems to perform essential, mission-critical functions. As existing technology evolves and new technologies are introduced to provide improved capabilities and advanced features in systems, new technology-related vulnerabilities often arise. Organizations implementing and using advanced technologies must be on guard. One such category of technologies is active content, which refers to electronic documents that can carry out or trigger actions automatically without an individual directly or knowingly invoking the actions. Exploits based on vulnerabilities in active content technologies can be insidious. This report recommends key guidelines for dealing with active content. Illus.

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of active content and mobile code technologies in use today and offer insights for making informed IT security decisions on their application and treatment. The discussion gives details about the threats, technology risks, and safeguards for end user systems, such as desktops and laptops. Although various end user applications, such as email clients, can involve active content, Web browsers remain the primary vehicle for delivery and are underscored in the discussion. The tenets presented for Web browsers apply equally well to other end user applications and can be inferred directly.

Fed. agencies are facing a set of cybersecurity threats that are the result of increasingly sophisticated methods of attack & the blending of once distinct types of attack into more complex & damaging forms. Examples of these threats include: spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail), phishing (fraudulent messages to obtain personal or sensitive data), & spyware (software that monitors user activity without user knowledge or consent). This report determines: the potential risks to fed. systems from these emerging cybersecurity threats; the fed. agencies' perceptions of risk & their actions to mitigate them, fed. & private-sector actions to address the threats on a nat. level; & governmentwide challenges to protecting fed. systems from these threats. Illus.

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