Fundamental building blocks for security interoperability in e-business

The e-business concept goes beyond traditional electronic enterprise systems that are typically owned and controlled by one company. In e-business systems the data is exchanged in a distributed environment where different components and systems are owned and controlled by different companies. This introduces two main challenges: (1) there is a need for adequate security mechanisms that can protect the data in an end-to-end manner (2) the security mechanisms deployed in e-Business systems must be interoperable to ensure that they work with the security mechanism of others’ systems. This chapter makes an overview of security mechanisms applicable to e-Business, as well as relevant security standards. The chapter also gives an outlook on novel approaches to e-Business security.