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290 Chapter 5 • Communication Security: Web Based Services

item. In doing so, you will see a dialog box similar to that shown in Figure 5.10,
which lists the ActiveX controls loaded and used by IE, downloaded from the
Internet, and ones that can run without permission.

Figure 5.10 Manage Add-ons Dialog Box

In comparing ActiveX to Java, you will find a number of differences. One
major difference is where each can run. Java works on virtually any OS, because
the applets run through a virtual machine, which, as we mentioned, is essentially an
emulator that processes the code separately from the OS.This allows Java to run on
many platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.ActiveX components
are distributed as compiled binaries, meaning they will only work on the OS for
which they were programmed. In practical terms, this means that they are only
guaranteed to run under Microsoft Windows.
As with Java and JavaScript,ActiveX runs on the client side, thus many of the
issues encountered will impact the user’s machine and not the server. However,
while ActiveX controls can look similar to Java applets from a user point of view,
the security model is quite different.ActiveX relies on authentication certificates in its
security implementation, which means that the security model relies on human

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