A computer network within a small geographical area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, office building or group of buildings. A LAN is composed of interconnected workstations and personal computers which are each capable of accessing and sharing data and devices, such as printers, scanners and data storage devices, anywhere on the LAN. LANs are characterized by higher communication and data transfer rates and the lack of any need for leased communication lines. A wide area network (WAN) is a network that exists over a large-scale geographical area. A WAN connects different smaller networks, including local area networks (LAN) and metro area networks (MAN). This ensures that computers and users in one location can communicate with computers and users in other locations. WAN implementation can be done either with the help of the public transmission system or a private network. The purpose of the LAN-to-WAN Domain is to provide the outside world with access to your data by filtering authorized users from unauthorized ones.
The LAN-to-WAN Domain connects your organizations secure LAN with an untrusted WAN. Because of this, the organization must ensure the proper controls to protect their LAN resources. Protecting information in the LAN-to-WAN Domain focuses on maintaining the balance between easy access and solid security. If an organization plans well then they can enjoy a functional LAN-to-WAN Domain that makes LAN information available for use to WAN users. The following are general best practices for securing organizations LAN-to-WAN and WAN Domains for compliance: Organization needs to map their proposed LAN-to-WAN architecture before installing any hardware. Use one of the several available network-mapping software products (Open audit IT, Nuts about Nets, and Advanced IP Scanner) to make the process easier. Identify all of the components’ data paths through the domain. Use the map to identify any single…
