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Remote-Access VPNs: Business Productivity, Deployment,
and Security Considerations
and Security Considerations
Choosing Remote-Access VPN Technologies, Securing the VPN Deployment
Defining Remote-Access VPNs
Remote-access VPNs allow secure access to corporate resources by establishing an encrypted
tunnel across the Internet. The ubiquity of the Internet, combined with today’s VPN technologies,
allows organizations to cost-effectively and securely extend the reach of their networks to anyone,
anyplace, anytime.
VPNs have become the logical solution for remote-access connectivity for the following reasons:
●
Provides secure communications with access rights tailored to individual users, such as
employees, contractors, or partners
●
Enhances productivity by extending corporate network and applications
●
Reduces communications costs and increases flexibility
Using Remote-Access VPNs to Improve Business Productivity
Anytime, anyplace network access gives employees great flexibility regarding when and where
they perform their job functions. VPNs accommodate “day extenders”, employees who desire
network access from home after hours and weekends to perform business functions such as
answering e-mail or using networked applications. Using VPN technology, employees can
essentially take their office wherever they go, thus improving response times and enabling work
without interruptions present in an office environment.
VPNs also provide a secure solution for providing limited network access to non-employees, such
as contractors or business partners. With VPNs, contractor and partner network access can be
limited to the specific servers, Webpages, or files they are allowed access to, thus extending them
the network access they need to contribute to business productivity without compromising network
security.
Technology Options: IPsec and SSL VPNs
There are two primary methods for deploying remote-access VPNs: IP Security (IPsec) and
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Each method has its advantages based on the access requirements
of your users and your organization’s IT processes. While many solutions only offer either IPsec or
SSL, Cisco
®
remote-access VPN solutions offer both technologies integrated on a single platform
with unified management. Offering both IPsec and SSL technologies enables organizations to
customize their remote-access VPN without any additional hardware or management complexity.
SSL-based VPNs provide remote-access connectivity from almost any Internet-enabled location
using a Web browser and its native SSL encryption. It does not require any special-purpose client
software to be pre-installed on the system; this makes SSL VPNs capable of “anywhere”
connectivity from company-managed desktops and non-company-managed desktops, such as
employee-owned PCs, contractor or business partner desktops, and Internet kiosks. Any software