VPN Virtual Private Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

VPN Virtual Private Network - Essay Example iddle, replay attacks, brute force, password guessers and dictionary attacks, and social attacks (Fortenberry, 2001).† Thus, more effective ways of combating the threats especially in terms of access to the network are extremely important in order to determine that those who access an information systems infrastructure are authorized and recognized by the system. One of the technologies available in protecting the information systems environment is via the deployment of a virtual private network or VPN. â€Å"A virtual private network (VPN) is a private communications network often used by companies or organizations, to communicate confidentially over a public network. VPN traffic can be carried over a public networking infrastructure (e.g. the Internet) on top of standard protocols, or over a service providers private network with a defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. A VPN can send data e.g. voice, data or video, or a combination of these media, across secured and encrypted private channels between two points. (Wikipedia, 2007)† The encryption methodology in VPN is an end-to-end system whereby â€Å"the process of taking all the data that one computer is sending to another and encoding it into a form that only the other computer will be able to decode. Most computer encryption systems belong in one of two categories: Symmetric-key encryption and Public-key encryption. A well-designed VPN can greatly benefit a compan y by: Aside from a well-designed VPN, the advantages of implementing and deploying a VPN in an enterprise means â€Å"cost savings because organizations no longer have to use expensive leased or frame relay lines and are able to connect remote users to their corporate networks via a local ISP instead of via expensive 800-number or long distance calls to resource-consuming modem banks. The security provided by VPNs is the highest level of security using advanced encryption and authentication