County secures Internet-based access - Internet Security - Brief Article

Communications News, March, 2003

The security group for information technology services (ITS) in Johnson County, Kan., led by manager Aaron Goff, wanted to serve its citizens better by improving access to information by authorized personnel. Secure remote access to essential applications and resources would speed communications flow for employees and vendors, make mission-critical data more readily available, streamline efficiencies and ultimately cut operation costs, Goff reasoned.

Johnson County is the largest county in Kansas, employing approximately 3,000 workers spread across 477 square miles. The ITS group supports county offices dispersed across six locations and another 20 satellite offices spread across the county. Different offices utilize various information systems--including different applications, networking topologies, computing systems and remote access.

Initially, ITS deployed a VPN for delivering access to information over the Internet. The VPN, however, required that client-side software be installed on each user's computer, as well as ongoing support and maintenance.

Employees in the 38 county organizations have different Internet service providers, as well, and users faced different complications accessing the LAN located in Olathe through the VPN. ITS was unable to keep up with maintenance demands.

Goff found his answer for his remote-access challenge with a new technology called an instant virtual extranet (IVE), and selected an IVE solution from Neoteris Inc., Mountain View, Calif.

The Neoteris IVE is a hardened network appliance that delivers secure access to applications and information over the Internet via any Web browser, without requiring client software installation or changes to the internal LAN servers. The plug-and-play IVE took less than an hour to set up, Goff says.

The appliance leverages secure sockets layer (SSL) technology included with standard Web browsers, so there was no client software to buy and install. ITS now provisions remote access by adding users in the point-and-click IVE administration console, and directing the user to a predefined URL to log in with a user name and password credential.

"The IVE requires no configuration to the machines our employees are already using, it offers users what they need and it takes care of the support for the ITS help desk," says Goff.

Users have access to e-mail, file sharing, Web applications and internally developed applications--such as an emergency communications database and a geographic information system used by such departments as public works and wastewater.

The IVE solution delivers access at the application layer, eliminating open-ended, network-layer connections that VPN systems employ. Once authorized, a user session does not expose the county network to vulnerabilities--either malicious hacks or unintended viruses and Trojans.

The IVE was installed at ITS headquarters in 30 minutes, Goff recalls. "After quick setup of the appliance, we e-mailed out a short document on how to use the IVE, and users were up and running in five to 10 minutes," he says.

In addition to time savings, Johnson County has significantly reduced its expenditures in terms of software and customer support for remote access. On the equipment side, the IVE appliance cost $15,000, compared to the VPN total of $27,500.

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