Using Digital Certificates For Ike Auto-Policy Authentication; Certificate Revocation List (Crl); Walk-Through Of Configuration Scenarios On The Fvg318 - NETGEAR ProSafe FVG318 Reference Manual

Reference Manual for the ProSafe Wireless 802.11g VPN Firewall Model FVG318

Using Digital Certificates for IKE Auto-Policy Authentication

Digital certificates are strings generated using encryption and authentication schemes that cannot
be duplicated by anyone without access to the different values used in the production of the string.
They are issued by Certification Authorities (CAs) to authenticate a person or a workstation
uniquely. The CAs are authorized to issue these certificates by Policy Certification Authorities
(PCAs), who are in turn certified by the Internet Policy Registration Authority (IPRA). The
FVG318 is able to use certificates to authenticate users at the end points during the IKE key
exchange process.
The certificates can be obtained from a certificate server that an organization might maintain
internally or from the established public CAs. The certificates are produced by providing the
particulars of the user being identified to the CA. The information provided may include the user's
name, e-mail ID, and domain name.
Each CA has its own certificate. The certificates of a CA are added to the FVG318 and then can be
used to form IKE policies for the user. Once a CA certificate is added to the FVG318 and a
certificate is created for a user, the corresponding IKE policy is added to the FVG318. Whenever
the user tries to send traffic through the FVG318, the certificates are used in place of pre-shared
keys during initial key exchange as the authentication and key generation mechanism. Once the
keys are established and the tunnel is set up the connection proceeds according to the VPN policy.

Certificate Revocation List (CRL)

Each Certification Authority (CA) maintains a list of the revoked certificates. The list of these
revoked certificates is known as the Certificate Revocation List (CRL).
Whenever an IKE policy receives the certificate from a peer, it checks for this certificate in the
CRL on the FVG318 obtained from the corresponding CA. If the certificate is not present in the
CRL it means that the certificate is not revoked. IKE can then use this certificate for
authentication. If the certificate is present in the CRL it means that the certificate is revoked, and
the IKE will not authenticate the client.
You must manually update the FVG318 CRL regularly in order for the CA-based authentication
process to remain valid.

Walk-Through of Configuration Scenarios on the FVG318

There are a variety of configurations you might implement with the FVG318. The scenarios listed
below illustrate typical configurations you might use in your organization.
7-14 Advanced Virtual Private Networking
v1.0, October 2005