Unlike many other products on the market, the G-Server® protects both static and dynamic content, helping to solve the problem of Web sabotage in real time. However, a question that often arises is how Gilian’s G-Server can protect dynamic content, since this type of content does not exist until an application or script produces the dynamic output. Gilian protects dynamic content by ensuring the integrity of the Web applications and scripts that generate dynamic output. To explain this in more detail, we first discuss how G-Server distinguishes static and dynamic content and then describe how it protects both types of information.

Static Versus Dynamic Content
The G-Server considers pages static if two distinct data requests of the same resource (URL) produces the same data output. Static content examples include basic information such as phone numbers, email addresses, executive pictures, video/audio sound bytes, investor relations, and press releases.

Conversely, the G-Server considers data dynamic if two different data requests for the same URL resource provide different data output. In other words, instances of the output could never be predicted and built “on the fly” by an application or script. Dynamic data examples include bank account balances, stock portfolios, foreign language translations or price totals from an online store.

How Does G-Server Protect Static Content?
When a Webmaster saves a page (file) to a Web server, the G-Server stores a digital signature of the page. In addition, it stores a replica of the page in compressed format for recovery purposes in the event the original page on the Web server is altered or hacked. When the Web server prepares to send static content, G-Server digitally examines the page and compares it in real-time with the previously saved, trustworthy digital signature. If the signature matches, the G-Server allows the page to proceed to the end user’s browser. If the signature does not match, the G-Server stops the hacked page from being published, alerts the Webmaster of the hack—via SMTP, pager, or e-mail—and automatically publishes the authentic replica page stored on the G-Server.

How Does G-Server Protect Dynamic Content?
Unlike the method used for static content, a replica of the dynamic content obviously cannot be saved in the G-Server database since the content does not even exist until the program or script executes. That’s why Gilian takes an intelligent approach to dynamic content protection: ensure the integrity of the scripts and programs running on the Web servers. After all, if your Web applications are trustworthy, you can be assured the dynamic output from those applications is also authentic. In addition, since applications and scripts run on the Web server, they are the most likely targets for hackers because they are in the company’s most accessible area: their public Web server.

With dynamic content, the Web server’s output—that is, price totals, stock prices, and so on—depends on multiple, external programs and resources, such as ASP or CGI scripts and databases that contain the information to be built. To verify the integrity of the dynamic output, digital signatures of all processes, scripts and applications are created and compared in real-time. If any change to the application or script is detected, the application is simply not allowed to execute. As a result, not only is the display of corrupted dynamic content prevented, but all related computing resources to which the applications and scripts have access to are protected as well.

For each Web application that creates dynamic content, the Webmaster generates a default page that displays for example, “Site under maintenance, please try again later”, which is clearly preferred to having the hacked page published. Concurrent with the default page display, the G-Server alerts the Webmaster via SMTP, pager, or email. From this point, the administrator can request that a new copy of the script be forwarded from a hot staging area where the application can be refreshed with a new copy that is safely stored outside of the Web server. Or, the G-Server can send a message to the load balancer to stop sending traffic to that particular Web server.

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