The Executive Suite: Different Security Protocols

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Different Security Protocols

Communications over the Internet should always be secured in terms of privacy and confidentiality. Internet communications are delivered by packets through a network. These packets are easy for attackers to intercept if they have exploited the vulnerabilities of the network and intruded upon it. Fortunately, there are various solutions to address this security issue, and these solutions run at different degrees of abstraction.

One of the drawbacks of the original Internet protocol is its lack of general technique for protecting the confidentiality and privacy of data as it is transferred through the Internet. Information sent over the Internet can be intercepted and may even potentially be altered. Security improvements are urgently needed for Internet protocol. IPSec is designed to meet this security requirement. IPSec provides security services for other TCP/IP security protocols and applications to utilize. When two end-user hosts need to communicate securely, they set up a secure route between themselves. The two hosts use a security protocol of which both of hosts approve and understand. The hosts also utilize a certain encryption method to encrypt data transferred between them.

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) specification enables secured network management activities by various security protocols. The SNMP ensures the security of information in terms of data integrity, authentication and confidentiality. It is a security protocol that helps the exchange of management information between network devices. It is also part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. SNMP allows network administrators to monitor network performance and identify and mitigate network issues. SNMP comprises three essential components including management devices such as routers; switches; and network management systems.

Wireless Security Protocol

Wireless networks utilize radio broadcasts, which mean anyone with a receiver can obtain communications over the network. The information dissemination can be received and misused by malicious users. Early wireless network security is ensured by WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) protocol, which encrypts the traffic. However, it is vulnerable to attacks based on decrypting traffic, Therefore the WPA 2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption protocol was developed and is widely used today.