Keys to the future? Practical network encryption for today & tomorrow

Essay: Keys to the future? Practical network encryption for today & tomorrow
Author: Prashant Mahajan
Word Limit: 200

The world is now interconnected by millions of kilometres of optical fibre cable giving us the liberty to instantaneously communicate with anyone. However, I believe this liberty is a double-edged sword.

The news is inundated with reports about increased activity by cyber criminals with the ability to steal millions of dollars in seconds and intercept data during communication. Even the optical fibre cable, believed to be secure can be tapped using relatively inexpensive equipment. Encrypting your data while in motion is the only solution (Senetas Corporation Limited, 2011).

Encryption has been present in the layer-3 (Network Layer) & Layer-4 (Transport Layer) of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Model in the form of IPSec & SSL/TLS (Transport Layer Security). These solutions are very complex to set up and prone to misconfigurations, however a solution based on layer-2 (Data-Link Layer) encryptionoffloads the encryption from routers delivering higher performance with minimal latency. Layer-2 encryption is also platform independent, as there is no need for special software or hardware to manage routing decisions. Furthermore, layer-2 encryption protects from all forms of MiTM (Man in The Middle) attacks and hence is used in WPA2 wireless security (Roiter, 2010).

Since ‘There are different places where each fits’ (Miller, cited in Roiter, 2010), the decision to use either Layer-2 or 3 should be based on individual scenarios.

References

Senetas Corporation Limited 2011, Why Encrypt? viewed 5^th May 2012, http://www.senetas.com/products/why-encryption.htm

Roiter N 2010, When To Encrypt At Layer 2 Or Layer 3viewed 5^th May 2012, http://www.networkcomputing.com/wan-security/229501254

Explore posts in the same categories: Essays