ABSTRACT
A key security feature of DSL service is that the transport media is exclusive to a single user. In a typical neighborhood of homes or businesses, individual pairs from each premise are, in turn, consolidated into larger cables of many pairs that run eventually to the service provider’s central office. Traditional remote access methods, by their very nature, provide a fair measure of link security. Dial-up analog and dial-on-demand ISDN links have relatively good protection along the path between the user’s computer and the access service provider. Of the common broadband access methods, cable modems and wireless Internet have inherent security risks because they use shared media for transport. In addition to the shared-media security issue, broadband security problems are more serious because of the vast communication bandwidth that is available. Even the music download ser-vices plant servers on PCs. Surprisingly, these are often either hidden or ignored, although they represent a significant security risk.
