Publisher's Synopsis
Government Secure Intranets presents the results of an international study group, which was appointed in the summer of 1998 under the auspices of the Board of the International Council for Technology in Government Administration (ICA), to explore the state of experience in government secure intranets, with a focus of respective experiences of the United Kingdom and Israel. The publication succinctly underscores the role that Internet and Intranet can provide as valuable new tools for new or enhanced services form government administration's standpoint and from citizen's viewpoint. The very aspects that make these services attractive are the very factors that make them vulnerable to being subverted: ease of availability, cross platform working and pertinent low cost. Practical experience from the UK and Israel have demonstrated that security devices do exist but these are only a partial solution. Security concerns can only be overcome with careful planning and strict enforcement, including the need to have a well designed Intranet architecture and a professionally managed service. The concept of a "front door" to government services provides the point of secure entry for citizens with a legitimate reason for access to government transactions or to information services without the direct access to government databases.
