can protect themselves against unwanted "hackers'', said two presenters at a recent seminar.

Mr. Bill Cheswick of AT&T Research Labs and co-author of "Firewalls and Internet Security -- Repelling the Wily Hacker'', and Mr. Fred Avolio, principal analyst with Trusted Information Systems (TIS) and author of Building Internet Firewalls, published in Business Communications Review in January 1994, spoke this week about Internet security.

The seminars, held at the Elbow Beach Hotel, were presented jointly by Internet (Bermuda) Ltd. (IBL) and TIS of the US and were attended by representatives from about 30 Bermuda companies and government agencies and focussed on the issues of extending a corporate network into the Internet.

IBL is affiliated with TIS for security products.

Mr. Cheswick, on the last leg of a six-country tour, talked about the threats of linking any computer network to any network, not just the Internet but even a dial line.

"We cannot protect ourselves (from computer hackers) until we know where we are vulnerable,'' he said.

Mr. Avolio said there are Internet security tools available but they have only been developed since Internet went commercial in the last few years.

"Too often organisations allow public network users to access their corporate databases without consulting with their Internet service provider as to how to segregate that information which is deemed public from that which is private and confidential,'' Mr. Avolio added.

Mr. Tony Harriott, manager of IBL, said in a release: "The most important message the audience took away with them, was that most of them were not susceptible to attack in the first place. Internet works on the principle of client./server architecture, which means 30 million users have access to client software. However, client software is useless without server software, because without the server software, there is no means for the wily hacker to gain entry.'' TIS provides consultation, products and services to institutions like Dun & Bradstreet, First Union Bank, Swiss Bank, Moody's Investment Services, the US government, the UK Ministry of Defence, as well as custom made security that allows US President Bill Clinton and vice president Al Gore to send and receive encrypted electronic mail over the Internet without compromising security.

Internet is expected to be available to Bermuda subscribers through IBL early in the new year. IBL has set up various schedules for subscribers.