Fig 1. Diagrammatic Representation of VPN over the
Internet.
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There is an increasing demand nowadays to connect to internal networks from distant locations. Employees of-
ten need to connect to internal private networks over the Internet (which is by nature insecure) from home, ho- tels, airports or from other external networks. Security becomes a major consideration when staff or business partners have constant access to internal networks from insecure external locations.VPN (Virtual Private Net- work) technology provides a way of protecting information being transmitted over the Internet, by allowing us- ers to establish a virtual private “tunnel” to securely enter an internal network, accessing resources, data and communications via an insecure network such as the Internet.
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Electronic Mail is one of the most used tools when it
comes to business and Personal communication in the world today. Notes, Messages and even Pictures can be sent quickly from source to destination using E- Mail. The senders of these messages often assume that the contents are private and are kept sealed from the source to the destination. This is not always the case! With the proper techniques, malicious hackers and spammers can read and send unauthorized E-Mail in- formation that senders and receivers assume is private. This could range from reading/modifying a message being sent between E-Mail servers to sending unau- thorized Spam messages to individuals throughout the world. The heavy reliance on E-Mail makes the proper security precautions essential to providing secure and reliable E-Mail solutions in organizations today (Beck,
2008).
Organizations whose facilities are split between two or
more locations can connect the locations into a single logical network through the use of routers and wide area networking (WAN) technologies. (Tschab- itscher,2007).When a circuit-switched network like telephone network, is used, permanent or switched circuit services are employed to emulate the physical attachment of the two sites for router-to-router packet exchange obviously it is private.
Krasnyansky, (2001) observe that, when a packet net- work, such as the Internet, is used as WAN for con- necting the sites, the private nature of router-to-router communications is threatened, since the network pro- vides no guarantee regarding packet delivery. Routers intending to talk to one another over logical Internet
circuits will find that packets can be injected into or
ejected out of the circuits indiscriminately. To keep
such circuits private, the packets flowing on the circuit must be encrypted so that injected packets will be no use of unintended recipients. These private links be- tween routers are called tunnels. VPNs are so im- portant to organizations supporting telecommuters, branch offices, and off-site partners, that VPNs are becoming a critical part of corporate Information Technology strategy.
Electronic Mail is quite arguably the most important
application for personal and business communication across the Internet. People depend on it for sending text, image and even sound files quickly to their desti- nations. E-Mail was designed to be both easy to use and quick for fast end to end message delivery. These factors of E-Mail do not have many built in security measures by default. Barebones E-Mail services do not provide non-repudiation between the sender and receiver. They also fail at providing encryption to pro- tect the clear text nature of E-Mail as it traverses the Internet (Slavic, 2004). E-Mail has become convenient technology that most people rely on for communica- tion today; the adverse implication is enormous, there- fore proper measures should be put in place to guaran- tee security.
A Virtual Private Network, also known as VPN, is a computer network designed to make networks more
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secured. It is most often used by organizations to pro- vide remote access to organization’s computers, yet it maintaining a high level of security. (John,
2001).Virtual means not real or in a different state of
being. In a VPN, private communication between two or more devices is achieved through a public network the Internet. Therefore, the communication is virtually but not physically there.(Sweeney, 2000). Private means to keep something a secret from the general public. Although those two devices are communi- cating with each other in a public environment, there is no third party who can interrupt this communication or receive any data that is exchanged between them. (Sweeney, 2000).A network consists of two or more devices that can freely and electronically communicate with each other via cables and wire. A VPN is a net- work that can transmit information over long distances effectively and efficiently. (Sweeney, 2000).
Fifteen years ago, virtual private network (VPN) ac- cess was a fairly new concept to most businesses. While large corporations already had a good head-start with VPN technologies, the rest were starting to real- ize the potential and possibilities VPN connections provided them. Vendors such as Cisco, Checkpoint and Microsoft began producing a variety of products that provided VPN services to the business. Today, VPN is considered a standard feature in any serious security- and router-related product and is widely im- plemented throughout most companies. (Salamone and Salvatore. 1998)
Connolly, (2002) explain that the term VPN has been associated in the past with such remote connectivity services as the (PSTN); Public Switched Telephone Network but VPN networks have finally started to be linked with IP-based data networking. Before IP based networking corporations had expended considerable amounts of time and resources, to set up complex pri- vate networks, now commonly called Intranets. These networks were installed using costly leased line ser- vices, Frame Relay, and ATM to incorporate remote users. For the smaller sites and mobile workers on the remote end, companies supplemented their networks with remote access servers or integrated services digi- tal network.
Small to medium-sized companies, who could not af- ford dedicated leased lines, used low-speed switched services. As the Internet became more and more ac- cessible and bandwidth capacities grew, companies began to put their Intranets onto the web and create
what are now known as Extranets to link internal and external users. However, as cost-effective and quick- to-deploy as the Internet is, there is one fundamental problem – security. Today’s VPN solutions overcome the security factor using special tunneling protocols and complex encryption procedures, data integrity and privacy is achieved, and the new connection produces what seems to be a dedicated point-to point connec- tion. This is because these operations occur over a public network, VPNs can cost significantly less to implement than privately owned or leased services. Although early VPNs required extensive expertise to implement, technology has matured to a level where deployment can be a simple and affordable solution for businesses of all sizes.
There are currently three types of VPN in use: remote access VPN, intranet VPN, extranet VPN. Remote
access VPNs- enables mobile users to establish a con- nection to an organization server by using the infra-
structure provided by an ISP (Internet Services Pro- vider). Remote access VPN allows users to connect to
their corporate intranets or extranets wherever or whenever is needed. Users have access to all the re-
sources on the organization’s network as if they are physically located in organization. The user connects
to a local ISP that supports VPN using plain old tele- phone services (POTS), integrated services digital
network (ISDN), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. The VPN device at the ISP accepts the user’s login,
then establishes the tunnel to the VPN device at the organization’s office and finally begins forwarding
packets over the Internet.
Intranet VPNs, provides virtual circuits between or- ganization offices over the Internet. They are built us- ing the Internet, service provider IP, Frame Relay, or ATM networks. An IP WAN infrastructure uses IPSec or GRE to create secure traffic tunnels across the net- work. Extranet VPNs are the same as intranet VPN. The only difference is the users. Extranet VPN are built for users such as customers, suppliers, or differ- ent organizations over the Internet (Ferguson & Hus- ton1998).
VPNs were broken into some categories- Trusted VPN: A customer “trusted” the leased circuits of a service provider and used it to communicate without interruption. Although it is “trusted” it is not secured, Secure VPN: With security becoming more of an issue
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for users, encryption and decryption was used on both ends to safeguard the information passed to and fro. This ensured the security needed to satisfy corpora- tions, customers, and providers, Hybrid VPN: A mix of a secure and trusted VPN. A customer controls the secure parts of the VPN while the provider, such as an ISP, guarantees the trusted aspect, Provider- provisioned VPN: A VPN that is administered by a service provider.(Remote Access VPN Solu- tions.(2001, June).
VPN connections have the following properties: En- capsulation, Authentication, Data encryption. Encap- sulation-with VPN technology, private data is encap- sulated with a header that contains routing information that allows the data to traverse the transit network. Au- thentication- User-level authentication by using point to point protocol authentication establish the VPN connection, the VPN server authenticates the VPN cli- ent that is attempting the connection by using a Point- to-Point Protocol (PPP) user-level authentication method and verifies that the VPN client has the appro- priate authorization. If mutual authentication is used, the VPN client also authenticates the VPN server, which provides protection against computers that are masquerading as VPN servers Computer-level authen- tication by using Internet Key Exchange (IKE). To es- tablish an Internet Protocol security (IPsec) security association, the VPN client and the VPN server use the IKE protocol to exchange either computer certifi- cates or a pre-shared key. In either case, the VPN cli- ent and server authenticate each other at the computer level. Computer certificate authentication is highly recommended because it is a much stronger authenti- cation method. Computer-level authentication is only performed for L2TP/IPsec connections.
Data encryption- To ensure confidentiality of the data as it traverses the shared or public transit network, the data is encrypted by the sender and decrypted by the receiver. The encryption and decryption processes de- pend on both the sender and the receiver using a common encryption key. Intercepted packets sent along the VPN connection in the transit network are unintelligible to anyone who does not have the com- mon encryption key. The length of the encryption key is an important security parameter. You can use com- putational techniques to determine the encryption key. However, such techniques require more computing
power and computational time as the encryption keys get larger. Therefore, it is important to use the largest possible key size to ensure data confidentiality.
Electronic mail, the short form is e-mail or email is text messages that may contain files, images, or other
attachments sent through a network to a specified in- dividual or group of individuals. It can also be referred
to as messages distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a net-
work. (webopedia.com, 2010). Mankind has always had a compelling desire to communicate. In ancient
times this could be verbally or in some form of writ- ing. If remote communication was required (i.e. if the
parties were not physically together) then messages had to be physically carried or sent by a messenger.
Examples of early forms of remote transmission of messages not requiring a person to actually move be-
tween the sender and the receiver would be in 'jungle drum' or 'smoke signal' transmissions. These were
somewhat lacking in security and privacy.
This definition would also include the telex network
that was used extensively by business on a world-wide basis from the mid-1920's to the mid-1980. The telex network was independent of the telephone network and telex machines could connect with and communi- cate with any other telex machine on a global scale. Telex also was relatively secure in that the sending and receiving machines did identifying handshaking. It was relatively expensive to have a 'telex line' in- stalled and subsequent telex messages were charged on a data transmitted basis. During the 1960's and
1970's many companies who were using mainframe and mini computers also used email facilities on those systems. This enabled users of terminals attached to those systems to send messages to each other. As companies began to connect their central systems (hosts) to branch offices and subsidiaries then em- ployees were able to send email to other employees of that company on a world-wide basis. As the Internet became available to more people, both privately and through company connections, the email facilities available to users have evolved from the proprietary email systems available within company networks and via host-based systems through to the current trend of "Intranets" which are effectively private mini- Internets, using the standards-based Internet services, such as mail & web servers in place of proprietary ones.
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Since 1995 both the Internet and email have been 'hot'
topics, but when one cuts away the hype, one realizes that email itself is not new. What is relatively new however is that email is now more readily available, interoperable between systems, available world-wide, inexpensive, much easier to use and fashionable.
No doubt the Internet will shape future com- munications, far beyond the current uses. As to what features and functions that will become available over the next few years, the speed of progress dictates that we can only guess. (First Email System (1954 – 1978).
The system design phase is one in which the actual methods of designing system are considered. In view of this, this chapter stresses out the methods in which data is being collected. The steps in enabling virtual private network (VPN) for email communication, and this will be achieve by providing a solution that will secure the process of communication through the email over the internet by developing some highly ef- ficient method for which information can have a se- cure means from the sender to the recipient. The source of data to be used for this work will come from the internet, libraries and public journals.
Fig 1. Diagrammatic Representation of VPN over the
Internet.
THE TUNNEL PROVIDES A SUCURE END TO END POINT CONNECTION
HOUS
VPN has gone from obscuring to being a common method of linking private network together across the internet. VPN has become popular because they free users from the expense of connecting networks with dedicated leased lines, and also have help in sending email over the internet securely. This is part of the rea- son why VPN have become so accepted and tend to be very reliably.
Below is the step by step procedure in connecting a system to VPN;
1. Click on the "Start" button and select "Control Panel". Choose "Network and Internet Connec- tions" and then "Network Connections".
2. Find "Create a new connection" under the
"Network Tasks" heading. Click it and then click "Next". Click "Next" again on the screen titled "Welcome to the New Connection Wiz- ard".
3. Look at the window titled "Network Connec- tion Type" and click on the radio button next to "Connect to the network at my workplace". Click "Next". Choose "Virtual Private Network connection" on the next page and click "Next".
4. Type a name for your new connection in the
text box on the "Connection Name" page and click "Next". If you are using a dial-up Internet connection, you will see the "Public Network" page next. Select the radio button for "Auto- matically dial this initial connection" and click "Next".
5. Fill in your DNS server name or IP address for the VPN server to which you want to connect
LAPTOP
END- POINT
SECURE CO
ISP
THE INTERNET DATA IS ENCRYPT-
VPN CON-
in the text box marked "Host name or IP ad-
dress". Click "Next" and then click "Finish".
NECTION
ED AS IT PASSES
6. Enter the user name and passw
THE OFFICE
r of
the VPN provided for you. Pu END POINT
the
box to save the information if you want to save it for future use. Click "Connect" to connect to the VPN.
Below is the flow chart which is a diagrammatic rep-
resentation of a solution to a problem. This flow chart describe how mail is being compose and send over the internet when virtual private network is active and
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when is not active.
Fig.2. A flowchart illustrating solution
Start
Composing the mail
Sending the mail
enable email sent on the internet to be secure.
6.1. Summary
More and more people rely on E-Mail for simple and easy communication every day. In order to take ad- vantage of its strengths, E-Mail processes need to be reviewed and updated as newer protocols and technol- ogies are developed. Thus VPN is an outgrowth of the Internet technology, which will transform the daily method of doing business faster than any other tech- nology. A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, typically uses the Internet as the transport backbone to establish secure links with business partners, extend communi- cations to regional and isolated offices, and signifi- cantly decrease the cost of communications for an in- creasingly mobile workforce. VPNs serve as private network overlays on public IP network infrastructures such as the Internet.
vpn
Yes
Recipient: the mes- sage received is secured
Overall, this study stresses on the importance of ena- bling virtual private network so as to increase effective security in the process of communicating through the email. Thus, it is believed that this implementation will reduce problem encounter through the process of sending email over the internet.
Recipient: the mes- sage received is not secured
Stop
In the process of sending a mail over the internet, there is a need for the sender to compose the mail on his/her computer. After that the person need to send it over the internet to the recipient. But there is no guar- antee that the mail sent over the internet is always se- cure because there are malicious hacker over the inter- net ready to hack into a mail and send other message to the recipient. So because of these, a secure internet is needed. Implementing a virtual private network will
A primer for Implementing a Cisco Virtual Private
Network. (1999), Cisco Systems. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/so/neso/ vpn/vpne/vpn21_rg.ht m
A Technology Guide from ADTRAN.(2001, Septem- ber).Understanding Virtual Private Network- ing.ADTRAN. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.adtran.com/all/Doc/0/DTCGA3HEJ3
B139RK038BE81ID8/EN286.pdf
Connolly, P.J., (2002, January 21). Taming the
VPN.Computerworld. Retrieved September
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Dix, John. (2001, April 9). Is an integrated VPN in your future? Network World. Retrieved Octo- ber 1, 2014, from http://www.itworld.com/Net/2553/NWW01040
9edit /
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Ferguson & Huston.(1998, April). What is a VPN?
Retrieved September 19, 2013, from http://www.employees.org/~ferguson/vpn.pdf
Internetworking Technologies Handbook, Virtual Pri- vate Networks. Cisco Systems. Retrieved Sep- tember 22, 2013, from http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisint wk/ito_doc/
Introduction to VPN: VPNs utilize special-purpose network protocols. Computer Network- ing.Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.compnetworking.about.com/library
/weekly/aa010701d.htm
Next-Generation Networking: The Future of Greater Performance and Flexibility. (2002, July). IDC Analyze the Future. Retrieved September
28, 2013, from http://www.business.att.com/content/whitepape r/next_generation.pdf
Remote Access VPN Solutions.(2001, June). Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Retrieved September 20, 2013, from http://www.checkpoint.com/products/downloa ds/vpn-1_remote_access.pdf
Salamone, Salvatore. (1998), VPNImplementation Calls For A Tunnel Trip.Internet Week. Re- trieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.internetwk.com/VPN/paper-5.htm
Sandick, H., Nair, R., Rajagopalan, B., Crawley, E., (1998, August).A Framework for QoS-based Routing in the Internet. Retrieved October 1,
2002, from ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2386.txt http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/e_mail.html History of Components Necessary for the Inven- tion of the First Email System (1954 - 1978)
H
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