IP security (IPSec) is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) STANDARD suite of PROTOCOLS that offer data authentication, integrity, and confidentiality between two COMMUNICATION points over an IP network. It also specifies how packets are encrypted, decrypted, and authenticated. It specifies the protocols for safe key exchange and key management.

It consists of the following components:

• Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP): Data integrity, encryption, authentication, and anti-replay are all provided by ESP. It also supports payload authentication.
• Authentication Header (AH): This header also supports data integrity, authentication, and anti-replay, but not encryption. anti-replay protection guards against unwanted packet transmission. It does not ensure the privacy of data.
• IKE (Internet Key Exchange): It's a network security protocol that allows two devices to dynamically exchange encryption keys and find a way to communicate across a Security Association (SA). To support secure communication, the Security Association (SA) creates common security PROPERTIES between two network entities. IKE (Internet Key Exchange) protects the content of messages and serves as an open framework for implementing common ALGORITHMS like SHA and MD5. Each packet is assigned a unique identifier by the algorithm's IP sec users. The device can then determine whether a packet is correct or not using this identifier. Unauthorized packets are deleted and not delivered to the intended recipient.