The growth of virtual private networks and an increase in Internet security breaches have heightened corporate security concerns. As a result, vendors will display new ways of authenticating VPN traffic and software that protects corporate users against unwanted Net content, viruses and intruders. Greg Smith, director of product marketing for Check Point Software Technologies, Inc. in Redwood City, Calif., said the firm's VPN Product Family includes new ways to authenticate virtual private network traffic. VPNs mostly use the public Internet today. But it's still important to verify that only authorized users are sending and receiving traffic over the VPN, and that means proper identification.
Users enter the password read from the token into the computer when asked for authentication.
Meanwhile, a server that is time-synchronized with the card generates the same password at the same time. If the two passwords match, the user is authenticated, Smith says. The technology is favored because it automatically logs where calls are coming from. Chris Benham, vice president of global marketing for the enterprise solutions division of Symantec Corp. in Cupertino, Calif., said the firm will introduce a packaged solution that includes Internet content filtering, virus protection and intrusion prevention. In addition, Symantec provides a desktop firewall as a final barrier to intrusion.