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Diana Kelley, Contributor Published: 03 Aug 2003
IPSec vs. SSL VPNs: Which cures your remote access ills?

This article is part of the August 2003 issue of IPSec vs. SSL VPNs: Which cures your remote access ills?

Driving the authentication down toward Layer 2 of the network invokes the question, "Can we authenticate the machine as well as the user?" Here's the idea: Using a unique footprint or ID from the machine itself provides a reliable way to control access, because it enables companies to lock out any unauthorized machine. Steal the machine but don't know the password? The machine gets cut off from network access. Steal the password but not the machine? Again, no access. So, when used together, passwords and machine IDs give companies strong security without the need deploying smart cards, tokens or other devices that users can misplace or break. As appealing as this solution is, the offerings in the market for it are still quite new. But with major players such as Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and IBM involved, it may gain traction. These companies, with others, formed the Trusted Computing Group (TGC) in April to "develop and promote open industry standard specifications for trusted computing hardware building blocks and software interfaces across multiple... Access >>>

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    • Examining device-based authentication by Diana Kelley, Contributor

      Combining device-based authentication technology with existing user-based authentication would be appealing for many organizations, but technical details remain unclear.

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