SSL VPNs – DELIVERING VIP VALUE
With heavier demands for access to corporate and personal information – especially when ‘on-the-go’, via a proliferation of mobile devices – staying safe has never been more challenging or crucial.
Coping with this is something that organisations have to manage in their working environments. As new technology evolves, the challenge is to stay ahead of the game
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have become a common and easy way to secure communications over the internet. VPN services are a fundamental part of distributed systems, enabling the creation of secure data tunnels to remote sites or hosts. VPNs use cryptography to scramble data, so that it's unreadable during its journey across the internet, protecting data security and integrity. Deploying VPNs allows businesses to deliver secure, encrypted connectivity for a workforce on the move, which needs access to critical corporate network resources.
These issues must be considered: What kind of VPN to use? How do you ensure the greatest payback, in terms of simplicity and security? Most common are SSL VPNs (Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Networks). It is a form of VPN that can be used with any standard web browser and does not require the installation of specialised client software on the end user's computer. An SSL VPN consists of one or more VPN devices to which the user connects by using his web browser, with the traffic operating between the browser and SSL VPN device encrypted with the SSL or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.
What an SSL VPN offers is versatility, a low-hassle set up and tight control for a range of users on a variety of computers, who may be accessing resources from any number of locations. Finally, it is attainable for a modest investment.
Symantec has been in the business of securing connection and communication from the beginning, providing solutions that have evolved powerfully over time. In timely fashion, Symantec has unveiled new updates to its Website Security Solutions (WSS) portfolio that have innovative and comprehensive capabilities built in to help meet the ever-expanding security and performance needs for connected businesses. Essentially, the Symantec WSS strategy focuses on bringing maximum protection to companies, meeting compliance requirements, helping to improve performance, and reducing overall infrastructure costs.
Symantec has also just announced the first available multi-algorithm SSL certificates, with new ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) and DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm) options to help further protect your ecosystems and strengthen the foundations of trust online. These algorithm options will be available for all new and existing customers in 2013. The Symantec 256-bit ECC keys are 10,000 times harder to break than an RSA 2048-bit key based on industry computation methods. Symantec ECC certificates offer the equivalent security of a 3072-bit RSA certificate whilst at the same time offering significant improvements in server performance at load, as a server with an ECC-based certificate is able to handle more requests faster and scales well to handle:
- Traffic spikes – ECC efficiency improves at higher volumes
- Business growth – allows more simultaneous connections
The end goal, as always, is to deliver solutions that both your business and clients can rely on, which is why we are constantly moving forward to deliver the best possible website security solutions.
For more information about how SSL certificates work visit our ‘SSL explained’ infographic