Just a couple of years ago, if you wanted to do electronic banking you had to install proprietary software on your computer, then have your modem dial a private telephone number at your bank. Some banks still work that way. But today, users can also bank on the Internet. And they can do much more than just view their balance or check old statements. They can open and close accounts, move money between accounts, pay bills, and buy and sell stocks through a bank's discount brokerage unit.
Financial institutions benefit, too.
Many credit card organizations and utilities, for instance, are developing systems to lower the costs of preparing and mailing out millions of statements each month. Still, the practice is not as common as banks would like, partly because of the dangers that lurk in cyberspace when so much money is so mobile. These highly secure tools combine encryption keys with an added layer of software that uniquely identifies sender and receiver. The VPN's function is to wrap an extra layer of security around IPSec-encoded data to prevent unauthorized persons from intercepting transmissions. A lack of standards has locked companies into deploying VPN routers from only one vendor.