A new approach for building secure applications based on internet infrastructure

Abstract

Today, electronic data exchange systems utilise private value-added networks for the communication infrastructure. The internet is poised to become the new method of exchange of data. This paper contributes in analysing and studying the different solutions for the enterprises, which have several, separated branches connected for workflow and data exchange. For such connection, there are two alternative solutions: (i) building a private network which is very expensive, (ii) using the internet infrastructure. However, this solution faces the security violation problems because of the internet open connectivity. Where the security may be considered as the most important criteria in designing such system, this paper introduces security and performance analysis which emphasise that the best solution is to use the cheap internet infrastructure and proposes security methods to provide the confidentiality of company information. In this work a practical example for applying the information security methods. The main objective of this paper is to: (i) study the selection of the suitable security policy, where all security risks are considered so the threat to the data during transmission is minimised and data is fully protected, (ii) propose a network configuration that helps in such problems, (iii) study the most suitable architecture for such applications. The proposed solution can provide tremendous flexibility and cost savings as corporations extend their network to include remote employees, business partners and customers. However, the benefits of flexibility and cost reductions may be negated if the solution selected is lacking in any one of the user constraints or system requirements.