SECURING YOUR NETWORK: THE BEST APPROACH

A network is said to be a group of two or more computer linked together which are capable of sharing resources.

Authentication is a process of identifying the genuity of an individual before granting access to a particular resource. Authentication aids in access control which in turn helps in achieving security.

Network authentication is a means of verifying the identity of someone over the network before being given access to resources which resides over the network. There are various ways in which we could carryout authentication over a network.

The router is a device that is used for authentication over the network. The router serves as the door that restricts or allows access to a network. Before one could successfully connect to the network there is always a need to provide a name and a password. Security is achieved here through the Strength of the password and the encryption type.

There are basically 3 types of encryption namely;

1.      WEP (Wired equivalent privacy)

2.      WPA (Wifi protected access)

3.      WPA2 (Wired protected access II)

To achieve security (authentication) on a network there are two ways to achieve that;  

In the diagram above a user just needs to get authenticated once to access both applications and the internet.

In this scenario after the authentication has been achieved over the network in order to access the internet you could add an extra security feature which is a domain name server where a username and a password would be required to gain access. In such scenario you can monitor which users have access to the internet, you could determine the amount of data in which a user is consuming, you can limit the data usage of a user to a level.

When trying to log into an SAP system you could restrict access through requesting for a log in details.

Biometric authentication is a way of identification through the evaluation of one or more biological traits of an individual.  This includes the use of fingerprint scanners, Iris scanners, facial scanners, Swipe cards & voice controls etc

SAP biometric authentication software (BIOLOCK) is being produced by Realtime. Biolock identifies who is logging in indisputably, helps in controlling the areas in an SAP system that can be accessed, makes it difficult for impersonation to occur.

Biometric as a form of authentication can be implemented either over the network or on your SAP system.