Authentication System for Websites with Paid Content: An Overview of Security and Usability Issues

Every company that delivers paid content online is faced with one essential challenge of protecting its content from illegal access and theft. As the number of users increases detecting and stopping intruders who illegally access a website becomes more and more difficult. While many research focus on security issues of online banking, e-shopping and e-government websites, there is very little study of what is affecting websites with paid content. This paper outlines the most common security threats and explains how to design a secure and user-friendly authentication system for websites with paid content.