Will the rewards be worth the risks of exposing internal services to the Web? It's not helping that interoperability woes are exacerbated by the immaturity of SOA security standards. To lock down a large Web services network involving multiple enterprises, everyone must agree on technologies, even security policies: There's no use demanding that your employees use biometrics and physical tokens if a partner's staff accesses the system with weak passwords.
Web services have always been sold as a way to share data among organizations: An enterprise can selectively open internal systems to customers, partners, and suppliers, automating transactions that once required human intervention. While most businesses have so far steered clear, keeping Web services tucked safely behind the firewall, the growth of service-oriented architecture and the emergence of Web 2.0 look set to change that.
