Security and reliability for web services

Web services are expected to become an important information technology (IT) in the future. There are, however, several security problems when Web services are used on the Internet, for example, interception, disguise, and repudiation. In this paper, we describe the problems that cannot be resolved by traditional technology such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer)/TLS (Transport Layer Security) and describe latest technologies such as XML digital signatures and XML encryption that can overcome these problems. We also show how these technologies are being used with Fujitsu's Interstage Application Server, which provides a CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) compliant infrastructure that delivers the highest level of performance, robustness, and scalability. Moreover, we describe our activities for establishing two standards for these new technologies: Web Services Security and Web Services Reliability.