IPsec full form

What is the full form of IPsec?

IPsec stands for internet protocol security. It is a computing term that provides a secure network protocol that authenticates and secure encrypted communication between two computers over an Internet Protocol network. It is mostly used in VPNs which means virtual private networks.

Details about IPsec

Internet protocol security is developed to encrypt and seal the transport and application data during transmission from one device to another. This security offers deep protection for the internet chain.Internet header is not encrypted, due to which the intermediate carrier can deliver encrypted messages to the particular receiver. The Internet protocol security chain lies in between the transport chain and the internet chain.It includes protocols for making mutual authentication between agents at the beginning of a session. IPsec protects data flows between a pair of hosts, between a pair of security networks and between a network and a host.It supports network-level authentication, data setup authentication, data integrity, data encryption and provides protection from replay attacks.

This Story also Contains

1. What is the full form of IPsec?
2. Details about IPsec
3. History of IPsec
4. Different modes of operation of IPsec
5. Applications of IPsec

History of IPsec

The IETE which stands for Internet Engineering Task Force developed the IP Security Working Group in 1992 for the standardization of some specified security extensions of internet and named it as internet protocol security.After that In 1995, the working team organized workshops with members of other five companies that were TIS(Taxpayer Information Summary), Cisco, FTP(file transfer protocol), Checkpoint, etc. During the workshops of above mentioned companies, the Cisco and TIS software were standardized as the public references and were published as RFC-1825 through RFC-1827.

Different modes of operation of IPsec

There are two modes of operation followed by IPsec:

• Transport mode-

In this mode of operation, mainly the payload of the IP data is usually encrypted and authenticated.Since the IP header is neither modified nor encrypted so the IP route is intact. When the encrypted header is used, the IP addresses become impossible to be modified by the network address.If IP addresses are not secured can lead to criminal offenses. The transport and application chains are always secured, so that no one can modify them in any way and misuse of data can be avoided.

• Tunnel mode-

In this mode of operation, the entire IP address is secured and authenticated. It is then packed into a new IP packet with a new IP header. Tunnel mode creates virtual private networks for network-to-network communications, host-to-network communications and host-to-host communications.Suppose A and B are two hosts and they want to communicate with each other using IPsec tunnel mode.Firstly, they identify the corresponding proxies,that can be Pro1 and Pro2 and the logical authenticated tunnel is formed between two proxies. Suppose, A sends its message to Pro1 and the tunnel carries the message to Pro2. Then, Pro2 forwards this message to B.

Applications of IPsec

• Provides Secure branch office connectivity: It allows an organization to set an internet protocol security that enables the network to securely connect all the branches over the internet. This feature helps in reducing the cost expenses of the organization that are needed for connecting the organization branches across the cities or countries.

• Helps To Set up communication with other organizations: IP security allows connection between various branches of the organization at different places.It can also be used to connect the networks from different organizations in a secure manner.

• Provides Secure remote internet access: With internet security, we have the authority to call an Internet Service Provider to connect to our organization network in a secure manner.