Security extensions to IP bring authentication and privacy to the Internet.

IP is the underlying technology of networks used by the government, academia, and the corporate world, as well as the public Internet, to send myriad types of packets all round the world. Yet, despite the strength of IP as a WAN protocol, security has never been its strong suit.

This layer 3 protocol oversees packet forwarding through different types of networks. But, IP's ubiquity and wide acceptance as the basis for both public and private networks has led to great concern over the issue of security.

Several types of attacks have been known to take place over IP networks. One is called IP spoofing, in which an intruder tries to gain access by changing a packet's IP address to make it appear that the packet came from somewhere else. Other attacks include eavesdropping on an IP transmission. This can be done by using a protocol analyzer to record network traffic. Another type of IP attack involves taking over a session and masquerading as one of the parties involved in the communication.

The IP security problem will probably only get worse as companies rely on the protocol more and more for remote communications. Also, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which allow companies to create a private connection over the public Internet, require strong safeguards. Although VPNs do exist to a certain extent today, most industry watchers will tell you that for this concept to really fly, authentication, encryption, and...