Remote Access

Technology in the field of networking is growing at a grueling pace. The internet is becoming more accessible to the masses. The internet is becoming more portable as people can connect from anywhere using a wireless connection. Companies are giving their employees the opportunity to work from home by using remote access. There are security issues when using remote access and this paper talk about them.

There are of course certain advantages for using remote access. It increases employee efficiency because according to the survey, people intend to work harder, if the company gives them the facilities to access the company network. Some of the disadvantage is that not all employees are responsible. For example, an employee leaves his laptop inside a taxi and some hacker ends up hacking into the company network.

Remote access client (sometimes we called user) is able to access the private network connection that connects to the company network. The private network server lets the user access the resources of the company network where the private network served is located. The packet will be sent through the private network server via the company network. The remote access client usually authenticates itself by using a password. Most of the time, the private network server will authenticates itself to the client.

Virtual Private Network (VPN) is the most popular private network that uses the internet to access the resources from the company network. VPN will eventually replace the Wide Area Network (WAN).VPN reduces cost by eliminating long distance charges. VPN is responsible of security and maintaining the company network using the encryption and decryption.

There are two ways to access the data over the wireless connection, Secure Socket Layer Virtual Private Network and IP Security Virtual Private Network. Most of the company prefers to use SSL VPN because it is easier to install and improvements are being made at a faster pace. SSL VPN has a firewall port that will secure the network traffic so the ITadministrator doesn’t have to manually setup a firewall for communication. IPSec VPN turns out to be more expensive because the installation and the configuration of the IPSec VPN has to be done by hired professionals. If the users mess up the configuration or the installation, the maintenance cost will increase.

Remote access has a faster data rate because remote access uses a dedicated line to connect the PC or the private network server to the main company network. Remote access is more expensive because of the dedicated line. It also makes remote control less flexible because of it limits the options of the user. With recent technology, we can connect to remote access using Wi-Fi or wireless LAN (Local Area Network). This makes it easier for the user to connect from anywhere to their company.

Here are some examplesof VPN including pictures.

The user accesses the company network using the VPN.

1.User needs to dial the local ISP that has been assigned by the company. The user needs to sign on into the ISP network. ISP needs to authenticate the user information. If identification matches, the authorization to access the internet is permitted.

2.The company network is always on stand by. The user will need to log in into the company network using tunnel request to the Security server on the company network. As always the Security system will authenticate the user and give the user authorization if the identification matches.


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3.The user then sends data through the tunnel which is encrypted by the VPN software before being sent over the ISP connection.

  1. Encryption and decryption of the data packet is happening here. The Security

system will receive the encrypted data and decrypted the data to the company network. Before the data is sent back to the remote user, the security system will encrypt the data packet.

This is pictures that illustrate the company remote access. People can access the company network from anywhere.