Telecommunications Essentials

Security

Security is very important to the proper operation of VPNs. This section describes the available security mechanisms and the anticipated developments in the realm of standards for encryption and key management.

Firewalls

A firewall is typically defined as a system or a group of systems that enforces and acts as a control policy between two networks. It can also be defined as a mechanism used to protect a trusted network from an untrusted network—usually while still allowing traffic between the two. All traffic from inside to outside and vice versa must pass through the firewall. Only authorized traffic, as defined by the local security policy, is allowed to pass through it. The system itself is highly resistant to penetration. A firewall ...