Security

The Internet has evolved from a tightly controlled internetwork of educational and government organizations to a widely accessible means for transmission of business and personal communications. As a result, the security requirements of the network have changed. The network infrastructure, services, and the data contained on network attached devices are crucial personal and business assets. Compromising the integrity of these assets could have serious consequences, such as:

There are two types of network security concerns that must be addressed: network infrastructure security and information security.

Securing a network infrastructure includes the physical securing of devices that provide network connectivity, and preventing unauthorized access to the management software that resides on them.

Information security refers to protecting the information contained within the packets being transmitted over the network and the information stored on network attached devices. Security measures taken in a network should:

In order to achieve the goals of network security, there are three primary requirements, as shown in Figure 2: