Connecting Secured Remote Networks
Providing a remote secure access over the insecure Internet is business imperative for large corporations. The need for connecting remote users to corporate resources securely is not a new problem for IT. Nowadays end users with emerging work styles, new computing and communication devices and ever increasing expectations are driving demand for expanded remote access. The corporate today enables teleworkers; day extenders and business partners to access the corporate network resources across un-trusted networks. The remote users will be behind their own firewalls. They all expect easy, clientless access to the network resources they need, from anywhere, at any time, using any device.
The buzzing keyword Virtual Private Network (VPN) now becomes the mandatory solution for secure remote access. A VPN is a group of two or more computer systems, typically connected to a private network (a network built and maintained by an organization solely for its own use) with limited public-network access that communicates "securely" over a public network. VPNs may exist between an individual machine and a private network (client-to-server) or a remote LAN and a private network (server-to-server). Security features differ from product to product. But VPNs must include encryption, strong authentication of remote users or hosts, and mechanisms for hiding or masking information about the private network topology from potential attackers on the public network.
Hardware-based VPN systems are encrypting routers. They are secure and easy to use. They provide the nearest thing to "plug and play" encryption equipment available. They provide the highest network throughput of all VPN systems ....
