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Is a Local Area Network (LAN) as safe as you think?

December 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment
TCP/IP stack operating on two hosts connected ...
Image via Wikipedia

It’s one of the most asked questions when it comes to transporting data, especially through the internet. It’s not really that expensive to construct a LAN, but connecting to another LAN, in a safe and private manner is time consuming and expensive. So, how can a individual, business, or corporation, create these connections to another LAN without leasing (public) internet lines?

Bridges are built to connect LAN’s to each other. It is like using a “leased” line, but with much more security and is certainly more dependable and reliable. Now, if two businesses need to connect over a large distance, the cost could be too great to generate this length of secured line.

But let’s discuss the value of using a VPN with-in a smaller geographical network connection. This VPN is a secure, dependable, fast, and able to expand as your business grows. Each remote office or location is able to send or receive data back and forth and know that it’s a safe path. The name for the growth is ”Scalability”. If a VPN is properly configured, some of the technology and terms recognized would be: Encryption, Firewall, AAA Server, and IP Sec. Let’s talk about each one for a brief moment.

“Encryption”is where all of the data sent from one computer to another or vice versa, is encoded into a manner that is only readable by the other computer.

“Firewall” is your safeguard barrier or a wall between your private network and the Internet. They can be configured to restrict ports, what types of data are allowed to pass through the Firewall.

“AAA Server”stands for Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting. Basically, the AAA Server checks who you are, what you’re  allowed to do, and what you actually can do. This is perfect for auditing the use of the PC on the network and provides a greater secure entry into the VPN.

The IP Sec is the Internet Protocol Security gives an enhanced level of security to provide a better encrypted algorithm and more detailed authentication.

VPN’s are a smart, safe, and more secure way of connecting people, PC’s, and businesses together.

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Virtual Private Networks … Some Highpoints

October 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Day 319: Using My Phone Line for Internet
Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

About the end of the 1990s the industry began to realize that their networks that were then connected by incredibly expensive leased or owned lines or dial-up phone lines, could be securely connected across shared public lines and by the internet. All that was needed was a finely developed and implemented encryption and routing system so things would stay secure.

Why would VPNs be desirable?

They vastly reduce network costs because they do not have a need for the leased communications lines that network locally or to the internet. The users can also exchange private data securely and make use of their own network’s secure systems. VPN technologies have many options for usage and various protocols. They are adaptable to a great number of technologies and marketing influences. They are not easily defined because they are so incredibly flexible in make-up and usage.

What can VPNs do?

An easier question to answer would be,”What can’t they do?”. VPN technologies can use vastly different protocols to tunnel data traffic. They can be totally adjusted as to the tunnel’s termination point. Their connectivity is adjustable to site-to-site or remote access. They can provide various levels of security inside and outside of the same network, while at the same time remaining adjustable as to which layer, (2 or 3), the circuit connectivity can be set at. They can provide fully secure encrypted mechanisms and mechanisms that run right along side with little or no security. In short, the number of protocols is almost without limit.

VPNs continually support changing sets of network nodes that fluctuate arbitrarily. VPNs are highly sophisticated networks, but since they are so flexible, they often are seen simply as tunnels running basic routing protocols. With provider-provided VPNs (PPVPNs), we have a different concept completely. Here they continually support multiple VPNs that operate at the same time over the same network by the same service provider, while being “hidden” from each other.

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