316 CHAPTER 12 Securing Outlook Web Access (OWA) Traffic
Enabling Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Support for
Exchange Outlook Web Access
One of the most common resources that is secured with ISA Server is Exchange Outlook
Web Access (OWA). OWA is a web-based email access method that displays a Microsoft
Exchange mailbox, calendar, contacts, public folders, and the like in a web-based interface,
such as the one shown in Figure 12.1.
OWA was available as an option in Exchange 5.5, and became a standard component in
Exchange 2000. The latest iteration of the product, available in Exchange Server 2003,
provides for a rich, functional, mailbox-access mechanism, with many of the same
features as the full-function Outlook client.
Traffic to and from an OWA server uses the web-based Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) to communicate with both client and server. The upside to using this protocol is
that the OWA server can be accessed from any client on the Internet that supports the
HTTP protocol.
The downside to OWA access with the HTTP protocol is that the traffic is sent in clear
text, easily readable to any third party that intercepts the traffic sent across untrustworthy
networks.
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