Security for virtual private intranets

The economies and conveniences of telecommuting have made the technologically sophisticated home office a growing phenomenon. Businesses, however, are facing a major challenge in extending the office network environment to employees' homes. Many companies have developed highly integrated enterprise networking solutions, which through a standardized desktop allow users on a LAN or secured intranet to easily communicate and share data. When this connectivity is done properly-which is not easy-both employee and employer benefit. But it also carries a risk because the enterprise does not control the home environment. How to transparently establish the trustworthiness of home machines so that their interconnection to the enterprise can be extended via an internetwork? This article describes a proposed solution, secure identity-based loading. SIBL uses smart cards, operating system modifications, and network authentication to provide secure, economical, and transparent home office environments.