Abstract
Web Services (WS) are gaining the attention of potential over the-web services providers. In particular, businesses are looking to improve their transactions using WS. However, security issues remain their most challenging hurdle. Both developers and users of WS have recently been studying XML security vulnerabilities and WS security risks. To that end, various mechanisms for prevention from and protection against risks have been proposed. This paper surveys several XML security risks and standards for Web Services Security (WSS). The main focus of the paper will be on means of extending Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) security issues to improve and foster XML WS.