Virtual Private Network (VPN) Question:

Those companies who were early adopters of firewalls are the ones using VPNs today. VPNs are still early in the use cycle. Three years ago, they hardly existed. Then firewall products started to include them — first ANS Interlock, then TIS Gauntlet. Soon, customers started demanding VPN functionality in their firewalls, even though few of them actually used it. But the Security Architecture for Internet Protocol (IPSEC) standard is changing that — with IPSEC-compliant off-the-shelf products, using encryption to protect the privacy of communications will be an automatic decision. It may take awhile. I predicted that 1998 would be the "Year of the VPN," but maybe 1999 is more realistic. Look, over four years after the famous Internet password sniffing incident, most people still seem to be working with reusable passwords.