ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the technologies being deployed to strengthen security. Secure communications over public networks and the Internet now rely on such technologies as encryption, public key infrastructures (PKIs), firewalls, and virtual private networks (VPNs). These technologies bring integrity, confidentiality, and continuity to business processes. Knowing who is at the other end of a request for access to sensitive information and processing resources is achieved through technologies that provide strong authentication. These technologies include the use of one-time passwords, smart cards, remote access servers, and biometrics. This chapter provides an overview of these technologies. All of these technologies have been successfully implemented, are increasingly being deployed, and have or are becoming cost-effective solutions for the increasing security challenges of today’s processing environments. Ten years ago, client/server was a technology only the most cutting-edge organizations were implementing. Now, client/server has been deployed in most organizations. So it is with technologies such as encryption, firewalls, VPNs, and remote access servers. It is not just the cutting-edge organizations that are employing them, but any organization that is interested in protecting its corporate assets through appropriate means for authentication and authorization to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and continuity of all its business processes.
