Wednesday 10 April 2013

Ensure Information Security with SSL VPNs


For any enterprise, information security is of paramount importance. And in today’s business scenario, where technological advancements have increased BYOD prevalence, ensuring information security becomes very important to protect information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction. Hence, in the remote access scene, Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Networks (SSL VPNs) is gaining great popularity as it ensures secure, controlled and remote access to any application, from any device and from any location. An SSL VPN is a kind of VPN that allows remote users and mobile workforce to access Web applications, client/server applications and internal network connections easily and securely. SSL VPN refers to “a new and fast-growing product category comprised of a variety of technologies, based on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.”
Before SSL VPNs entered the scene, the most widely used VPN was IPSec VPN. It required the installation of a client on the end user device to transport private data across the public internet. However, it was time consuming and made trouble shooting very difficult. With the emergence of SSL VPNs, the remote access scene has become less complicated and simple. It allows restricted network resources to be accessed remotely by means of a secure and authenticated pathway by encrypting all network traffic. Here is a look at some of the advantages of SSL VPNs.
  • As SSL VPN requires no client software accessing Web-enabled applications, the deployment, management and administration of SSL VPN is easy and effective.
  • SSL VPN provides secure, scalable, easy to use and browser based access to resources and applications
  • SSL VPN being clientless makes the provisioning of new users simple and easy
  • As SSL VPNs are easy to deploy and use, it leads to reduced support requirements
  • AS it provides secure remote access, it ensures business continuity in the event of a disaster, pandemic or business interruption
  • SSL VPNs provide encrypted authentication, browser cache cleansing, strong data encryption, endpoint inspection and forced remediation thereby ensuring utmost information security
Thus, SSL VPNs allow employees, partners, customers, contractors and guests to quickly and securely access the resources and applications for which they are authorized through a common Web browser. However, to ensure secure remote access ,users need to deploy best of the breed SSL VPN solutions. The following are some of the benefits offered by a best of the breed SSL VPN solution.
  • Up to 3.2 Gbps throughput, 128,000 concurrent users and 500,000 users on a single access gateway appliance for maintaining security and driving productivity at scale
  • 256 virtual SSL VPN portals on a single appliance, customizable to the security and usability preferences of multiple tenants and communities of interest
  • Range of access methods including Web, Layer-3 and client-server connectivity
  • High-performance 1024, 2048 and 4096-bit SSL encrypted communications
  • No pre-installed clients; eliminates firewall and network traversal issues common to traditional VPNs
  • Supports a range of AAA and dual-factor authentication schemes
With SSL VPNs facilitating anytime, anywhere secure remote access to business applications, it ensures increased productivity, while at the same time maintaining security and compliance.

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