My Own Private Internet Benton AR

Posted by : Joe Rudich

One of the frustrations of the computer communications era is that you cantrust in the availability of connectivity, but you can't trust most connectionswith critical information. Internet service providers are ubiquitous and cheap,so they can be used to connect computers in any part of the planet--even fromhotel rooms or cellular modem links.

Unfortunately, the standard Internet link is only marginally secure;unencrypted data can easily be captured at numerous points in the physical path.Communication via the TCP/IP protocol that underlies the Internet (as well asmost LANs) is naturally vulnerable to spoofing (one machine masquerading asanother), sniffing (tapping a communications link), and even session hijacking(masquerading as another computer in the midst of an established session). Thereare some protocols, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Pretty Good Privacy(PGP), that can raise the security bar for a particular communications tool, butthey don't apply to most client/server applications.

As a result, the traditional means of establishing secure long-distancetelecommunications--leasing the use of a privately operated proprietarynetwork--has remained popular despite the emergence of the Internet. Serviceproviders like AT&T and PSI operate private networks that can assure secure connections at a steep price. Ofcourse, private networks are impractical or impossible to connect to from privatehomes or hotel rooms.

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