POTSDAM, N.Y. -- "The net was made to be interconnected and to have people share information. Security was not part of the original DNA," said Andy Singer, spokesperson for the Cyber IN-Security Campaign.

But today, cybersecurity is a top concern. Clarkson University will use part of a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation in an effort to improve the security of cyber transactions.

Clarkson University Principal Investigator, Christopher Lynch, said, "We [the public] care that people don't steal our money. We care that everything runs smoothly. We care. We care that the things we do are private."

And one non-profit organization is echoing those concerns.

Singer said, "This world, it is an economy of pennies and millions of dollars. In other words, if you can scam two to three cents off of everyone's credit cards and pretty soon, you have one million dollars."

Experts say there is a growing need to learn about these vulnerabilities.

"You need policemen on the street to prevent crimes, you need people understanding the security to prevent crimes on the internet," said Lynch.

Researchers believe the key to cybersecurity is actually sharing more information, not less. Professor Lynch hopes by making his research results public, he will increase awareness.

"Let's say I create a protocol and if I don't tell anyone how it works people say, okay that has got to be the most secure because no one knows how it works, but it turns out to be more secure if everybody knows how it works," said Lynch.

In an attempt to tame to the world wide web, Clarkson University will study such protocols and try to develop a way to protect sensitive information from being manipulated or stolen.