An information management system is described including one or more
workstations running applications to allow a user of the workstation to
connect to a network, such as the Internet. Each application operates in
conjunction with an analyzer, which monitors transmission data that the
application is about to transmit to the network or about to receive from
the network and which determines an appropriate action to take regarding
that transmission data. Such actions may be extracting data from the
transmission data, such as passwords and usernames, digital certificates
or eCommerce transaction details for storage in a database; ensuring that
the transmission data is transmitted at an encryption strength
appropriate to the contents of the transmission data; determining whether
a check needs to be made as to whether a digital certificate received in
transmission data is in force, and determining whether a transaction
about to be made by a user of one of the workstations needs third party
approval before it is made. The analyzer may consult a policy data
containing a policy to govern the workstations in order to make its
determination. The information management system provides many advantages
in the eCommerce environment to on-line trading companies, who may
benefit from improvements to record-keeping, security and control over
transactions.