Applet SecurityApplet security is generally regarded as a necessary pain by most Java programmers.
The ability to download code on-the-fly is a major advantage, but it is also a wonderful tool for the same kind of people who like to write viruses that infect your PC.
Fortunately, the designers of Java took that into account and developed a security model that protects your system from malicious attacks. You may consider some of the applet security restrictions draconian, but it is much better to have too much security than too little-especially when Java is still striving for acceptance. These restrictions
do not apply to applications, because they are meant to access local files and the local network. The security restrictions are there to protect you from unknowingly loading a malicious program that can be hidden on a Web page. You have to manually run an application on your local system, however, so you are responsible if the application is malicious.
Security restrictions vary from browser to browser.
The Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 (IE6 and above) supports several security models from completely relaxed (no restrictions) to completely secure (won't download and run applets at all). In addition, IE3 allows digitally signed classes to have fewer restrictions. These settings can be found in the options tab of your IE!
File Access RestrictionsFile access is one of the most vulnerable places for malicious attacks. If someone were able to modify files on your system when you ran an applet, they could implant viruses on your system or just destroy data directly.
For this reason, no applet is allowed to access the local filesystem in any way-not even in a read-only mode. After all, you wouldn't want someone implanting invisible applets on their Web page just so they could snoop your hard drive and copy files from it.
You may be allowed to read and write files if your applet is loaded from the local filesystem using a URL of type "file:".
The inability to read and write files poses a major challenge for applet writers. For the moment, the only solution is to read and write files on applet's home Web server. And believe me, it is the only thing you need and applet is designed for to do the best!
There are many more restrictions for Applets like Network restrictions, and many other restrictions. I will be drafting them out soon!
(depending on the feedback!)
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