4.1.3 Connecting financial systems

Electronic commerce players are teaming up with banks, credit-card, EDI, and software companies, and more to create an infrastructure that can support business over the Internet. EDS, Visa, and First USA -- which have teamed up with First Virtual -- intend to stake a claim in the online transaction business. In fact, participation from this type of company is necessary so that people can buy goods and services in real time.

To make Internet commerce viable on a mass scale, it is necessary to connect the world's financial systems. Given that security is imperative to these organizations, why are they willing to risk doing business on the Internet?

CyberCash and First Virtual are not directly connecting the Internet to the global financial networks. CyberCash will use an intermediate highly secure server that is connected to both networks. First Virtual's system maintains security without having to use the encryption or signature technologies that the other systems employ. The system separates business on the Internet, which is insecure, from the bank processing system through firewalls and off-line batch processing handled by EDS, one of the world's leaders in banking transactions.