Web Security
 
Web Security
The Grading System is intended to be used over the public network, the Internet, for mainly online courses in a Virtual University environment, as well as for traditional courses to provide the advantages of online services to the local community. There are many advantages and disadvantages of such systems.

One of the advantages of these systems is that instructors or students can be anywhere in the world where a communication line or a cellular technology can reach. Instructors can evaluate student assignments over the Net, enter the results into the database. Students, then, can see the results online and comment on them.

Nevertheless, during the course of such communications, a great amount of private data is exposed over the Internet. This raises many security problems for the both parts of a communication. Students may feel insecure, and institutions computing systems may encounter deliberate attacks. The NPAC Grading System provides the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol in addition to user authentication to solve these security problems.

[architecture]
Secure Connections

The Web server used by the system provides a new 128-bit SSL protocol and supports a certified connection. To assure a secure connection, the Grading System provides a certificate for users. Users must have Web browsers with SSL extensions, and grant their Web browsers to accept the System's certificate the first time they access to the system.

References
Netscape Security Solutions
Remarks on Java and Internet Security

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