Computer Networks and Network Security

A computer network referred to as a network, is a collection of computers and devices interconnected by communications channels that make easy communications among users and allows users to share resources. Networks may be classified according to a broad variety of characteristics.

Types of Network

Personal area network
A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer and different information technological devices close to one person. Examples of devices which are used in a PAN are personal computers, printers, fax machines, telephones, PDAs, scanners, and even video game consoles. A PAN may contain wired and wireless devices. The reach of a PAN in general extend to 10 meters. A wired PAN is generally constructed with USB and Firewire connections while technologies such as Bluetooth and infrared communication typically form a wireless PAN

Wide area network
A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a large geographic area such as city, country, or spans even intercontinental distances, using a communications channel that combine many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and air waves. A WAN often uses transmission services provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN technologies normally function at the lower three layers of the OSI reference model which are the physical layer, the data link layer, and the network layer.

Virtual private network
A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links between nodes are passed by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network (the Internet) instead of by physical wires. The data link layer protocols of the virtual network are said to be tunneled through larger network when this is the case. One common application is secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN may not have explicit security features, such as authentication. VPN, for example, can be used to separate the traffic of different user community over an basic network with strong security features.
VPN may have best-effort performance, or may also have a defined service level agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. Generally, a VPN has a topology which is more complex than point-to-point.

Enterprise private network
An enterprise private network is a network build by an enterprise to interconnect various company sites, for example production sites, head offices, remote offices, shops, in order to share computer resources.

Firewalls
Firewalls are the most important part of a network with respect to security. A firewalled system does not need every interaction or data transfer to be monitored by a human, as automated processes can be set up to support in rejecting access requests from unsafe sources, and allowing events from recognized ones. The crucial role firewalls play in network security grows in parallel with the regular increase in cyber attacks for the purpose of stealing/corrupting data, planting viruses, etc.

This article is free for republishing
Source: http://livetechcare.articlealley.com/computer-networks-and-network-security-1987690.html

---

Keywords: This article is free for republishing

By: Article Alley

Free Article Directory: http://www.jumparticles.com

Copy and Paste Link Code:
<a href="http://www.jumparticles.com/1000128">Computer Networks and Network Security</a>

Article ID 1000128
This article has been viewed 1643 times