RSA Secure VPN

Introduction: RSA Secure VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) have given the world a new way to communicate. Now employees, business partners and customers can tap into critical information resources they need anytime and anywhere through the Internet.

The ability to enable instantaneous communication and information exchange can boost productivity and sharpen an organization’s competitive edge, but when the doors to the network are opened, how do you keep intruders locked out?

Virtual Private Networks provide a private tunnel through the Internet, but privacy does not equal security. The security of an organization’s network is only as strong as the method utilized to identify the end points of the VPN. VPN access protected by user name and passwords is a weak form of authentication and can easily be broken. Once a password is compromised, organizations no longer know who is at the other end of the VPN tunnel. For organizations to fully realize the benefits of a VPN, it must provide:

• Strong authentication of users and devices
• Confidentiality and privacy of information exchanged within the VPN
• Seamless security that is easy to deploy and has minimal impact on users
• Rapid and easy deployment for small and large numbers of users
• Low total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the VPN

With the RSA Security Secure VPN technology application, enterprises can help ensure against unwanted intruders by strongly authenticating users and devices entering into the VPN

Features and Components

The RSA Security Secure VPN technology application is a cost-effective, strong authentication solution that is designed to be transparent, easy-to-deploy and easy-to-use. Secure VPN, backed by RSA Security—the leading vendor in strong authentication—uses digital certificates to authenticate users and devices within the VPN.

Benefits

Strong Authentication of User and Devices
The RSA Security Secure VPN solution enables strong authentication of users and devices via digital certificates to help provide protection from hackers or attempts to impersonate legitimate users, as intruders need to have access to a user’s digital certificate along with the code to unlock it. This solution offers flexibility in how digital certificates are stored and used. Digital certificates can be stored encrypted on the user’s computer, smart card, USB token or made available through a secure credential server

Easy To Deploy; Easy To Use
Digital certificates are easy for administrators to deploy and manage. With RSA Security Secure VPN technology, the entire enrollment, authentication and installation process for digital certificates is built to be accomplished in a single operation without manual intervention by an administrator. This automated feature enables rapid scalability suitable for large user environments. From an end-user’s perspective, strongly authenticating themselves with digital certificates is virtually transparent

Low Total Cost of Ownership
RSA Security Secure VPN technology offers a cost-effective, strong authentication solution for securing an organization’s VPN. Though user name and password authentication is thought to be an easy-to-manage and cost-effective approach to securing a VPN, in reality password management issues and help desk calls related to passwords quickly lead to escalating hidden costs for organizations using VPNs

Extensible Investment Maximizes Return on Investment
RSA Certificate Manager can be used to address other business processes requiring trusted communication, such as digital signing for secure e-mail and electronic documents, as well as strong authentication of users outside of the VPN

Secure VPN Components

• RSA Certificate Manager software issues and manages user identities
• Detailed, step-by-step RSA Certificate Manager implementation guides for industry-leading VPN vendors including Check PointTM, Lucent Technologies®, Cisco® Systems, Nortel Networks and NetScreen

RSA Technology Applications (Options)

• Digital Signatures
• Web Server SSL Security
• Secure e-Mail
• Secure VPN

RSA Digital Certificate Solutions Product Range

• RSA Technology Applications
• RSA Certificate Manager
• RSA Registration Manager
• RSA Validation Solution
• RSA Key Recovery Manager
• RSA Root Signing Service