Chapter 1. Introduction to SSL VPN

History provides us with a map of how technology effectuates changes in the way we live and work. This technological transformation started with simple tools that then expanded to the internal combustion engine and now to the technology of computers and networks. One important example of this is transportation. Through a system of physical networks—roads, trains, airplanes, and so on—people can now work and live outside the congestion of large cities. Large parts of the population moved to 'suburb communities', and started the famous daily commute. In spite of high petrol prices, people stayed in their suburbs. Today, with the advent of the Internet, people can work almost anywhere. One of the technologies that allow the ubiquitous access required is a technology known as SSL VPN. This chapter starts you on the knowledge roads that will educate you about this technology. Nevertheless, before we get into too much detail, let's first understand how this technology will help you.

Many people work for what is now known as a 'virtual' organization. Workers in a virtual organization will not necessarily need an office, cube, or a parking space. More and more companies are letting staffers work remotely. The term used to describe these types of worker is teleworkers. As per the ITAC (International Telework Association and Council), the number of U.S. employees who work remotely has grown every year since 1999. The ITAC commissioned a study conducted by Dieringer Research Group (statistically based on teleworkers working at least one day per month), which shows teleworking has grown by nearly forty percent since 2001. What makes teleworking possible is the ability to connect your computer to the Internet from anywhere, anytime. This process of connecting remotely to the Internet is easy, and now with wireless, access is ubiquitous. Teleworking and remote computing is more than just working from poolside at your ranch house. It includes:

• Drinking coffee while working on a laptop at the local coffee shop (wireless 802.11)
• Reading your online mail while on a train to a customer
• On a customer site, using their network to connect to your corporate network
• Sitting on a flight to Frankfurt—updating your résumé, and posting it to an Internet-based job site
• Accessing accounting data via the Internet café on 42nd street in New York
• Playing online games sitting on your deck in the backyard (with your dog)
• Working from your house with the white picket fence in the suburbs

Note

Wireless Network

A wireless LAN is just that—wireless. Computers and routers will connect to each other via a set protocol and via a Radio Frequency circuit. Much like TV or your cell phone, your home network can connect computers together without wires. The name of the wireless networking protocol is IEEE 802.11. This standard was developed to maximize interoperability between differing brands of wireless LANs (WLANs). The 802.11 technologies can work with standard Ethernet via a bridge or Access Point (AP) . Wireless Ethernet uses a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)scheme, whereas standard Ethernet uses a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) scheme. One of the biggest advantages the 802.11 standard is the ability for products from different vendors to interoperate with each other. This means that as a user, you can purchase a wireless LAN card from one vendor and a wireless LAN card from another vendor and they can communicate with each other, independent of the brand name of the card.

Now you can be online almost anywhere and anytime. There are very few limits to anywhere with wireless access in North America, Asia, and Europe, and soon you will be able to Google from anywhere in the world. So as you can see, all is happy and secure in the world of ubiquitous Internet access. OK, let us stop and review that last statement. We used the words: 'anytime' and 'anywhere'; so far, so good. The word secure is not always true. In fact, with today's Internet, the traffic is rarely secure. The days of the 9600-baud modem are gone, along with the naive attitude that "all is secure". Access to the Internet is no longer safe.

The Internet is the communication backbone for more than just e-commerce; today you can access the Internet for almost everything:

• Playing online games, posting your résumé, and looking for new loves
• Supporting your business:
  • B2B (Business to Business)
  • B2C (Business to Consumer)
  • B2E (Business to Employee)
• Messaging and emailing (with all of that spam…)