The Importance of Virtual Private Network in SMB

Successful running of businesses in the current world

requires a digital presence and connection to the internet. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) plays the role of providing a connection through a group of computers networked together over a public network. The network allows sharing of information within a secured traffic. The choice of a VPN for a small business unit is dependent on the factors such as privacy and security of the company. In this regard, the VPN ought to be easy to manage and has to be set to suit the organization needs as it grows. Some of the VPNs that have been proved to be applicable for small businesses include perimeter 81, VyprVPN and Hotspot Shield (Roșu & Drăgoi, 2011).

Encapsulating a Packet

Encapsulation entails adding headers and trailers around data. Encapsulation is done in cases of outgoing transmission where data is sent from an upper layer to a lower level of TCP/IP protocol stack. The data from the upper layer consisting of a header is then repackaged at the next lower level with the level’s header. The supplemental header data is used on the receiving end for extraction from the already encapsulated packet. Encapsulation is mainly used when the details of implementation are to be kept from the user (Roșu & Drăgoi, 2011). As a result, the user can only conduct operations that they are restricted to.

Use of DMZ in SMB

A DMZ refers to a subnetwork which allows separation of the LAN from other untrusted networks. It consists of an external facing server and other services which can be accessed from the internet while the other internal LAN still remains unreachable (Saha, 2018). The benefits of the use of DMZ is that it provides an additional layer of security such that the internal servers of the business cannot be easily accessed and hacked. DMZ allows the network to be exposed directly which may increase the traffic. However, it is evident that DMZ requires proper knowledge for use and maintenance. For small and medium businesses the importance of the network is a priority so as to keep off hackers. Although it is not a priority for small businesses the DMZ creates a buffer zone away from the hackers.

Encryption Protocol For A DoD Contractor

The Department of Defense requires strong encryption for the economic security. Most militaries including the United States military use off the shelf encryption which have considerable varying length depending with the data clearance level such as sensitive, classified, secret and top secret (Gastermann, Stopper, Kossik & Katalinic, 2015). The algorithms ought to be public or off the shelf which is strong such as the SHA-256 and SALT. Such encryption protocols are not breakable because the procedure is not reversible in absence of the encryption key. The features of the military grade encryption promote the physical security through tamper-resistant enclosures and having access to controlled buildings.

Rationale and the Function of TCP

Transmission communication protocol (TCP) encompasses communication protocols that are used for interconnecting network devices over the internet (Peng, Walid, Hwang & Low, 2016). TCP can also be a communications protocol in a private network. It specifies how data is exchanged by communication via end to end communication describing how the data is broken into packets transmitted and received at the destination.

References

Gastermann, B., Stopper, M., Kossik, A., & Katalinic, B. (2015). Secure implementation of an on-premises cloud storage service for small and medium-sized enterprises. Procedia Engineering, 100, 574-583.

Peng, Q., Walid, A., Hwang, J., & Low, S. H. (2016). Multipath TCP: Analysis, design, and implementation. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (ToN), 24(1), 596-609.

Roşu, M. S., & Drăgoi, G. (2011). VPN solutions and network monitoring to support virtual teams work in virtual enterprises. Computer Science and Information Systems, 8(1), 1-26.

Saha, D. (2018). A Cost-Effective Cloud Strategy for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Transforming Business With Amazon’s EC2 Spot Instances. In Advances in Data Communications and Networking for Digital Business Transformation (pp. 98-123). IGI Global.