Re: Advanced Security

> The referenced document you sent contains the following quote:
>
> Over the Internet and in wide area network environments, both public
> carriers and private networks route portions of their network through
> insecure land lines, vulnerable microwave and satellite links, or a
> number of servers— exposing valuable data to interested third parties.
> In local area network environments within a building or campus, the
> potential exists for insiders with access to the physical wiring to view
> data not intended for them, and network sniffers can be installed to
> eavesdrop on network traffic.
>
> How can a person in Washington intercept traffic between Atlanta and
> Augusta?

I think the referenced document says it all. If you are routing through a public network, then you have no definitive control over who can see your packets. A person in Washington may not be able to intercept traffic between Atlanta and Augusta. But how about an unauthorized person in Atlanta? The point is not to limit what the person in Washington sees, but to limit what any unauthorized person sees, *regardless of location*. And are you sure of the channels your packets are traversing through? In many cases, the network is handed over to some ISP at some point. What if the ISP uses satellite transmissions? What if the end user is on a cable modem and everyone in his node can see his network communications? These are the reasons that VPN was created...to safeguard traffic from an authorized individual to a company's internal network, regardless of who may be listening in. And let's assume that you can safely assert that only your company's employees have access to the network traffic as the communications occur only in your company's intranet. One of the biggest threats of company data is from the *inside*, not the outside world. A disgruntled employee may have unfettered access to all sorts of things, just because they are an employee, or a recently terminated employee. Should that person who has access, and in some cases the knowledge to use that access, be able to see the unencrypted data?

Cheers,
Brian

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Brian Peasland
dba_at_nospam.peasland.net
http://www.peasland.net

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