In recent weeks, high-profile arrests of hackers and malware authors have trained a spotlight on the sometimes-shadowy underworld of computer crime. The Internet may seem like a more dangerous place than ever before, but Web security administrators can greatly reduce the number of vulnerabilities that allow hackers to illegally enter, deface and destroy Web sites.

In addition to the obvious steps of installing firewalls, intrusion-detection software and other security products, administrators can take several simple -- and relatively inexpensive -- measures to frustrate hackers' efforts and protect their corporate data.

"When you're doing an application hack, it's about gathering information," said Caleb Sima, cofounder and CTO of application security vendor SPI Dynamics, in a SANS Institute Webcast on September 10th. Therefore, administrators must reduce hackers' ability to garner such data.

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