High-speed security

Abstract

Most companies today take the risks of unwanted network intrusion, theft, sabotage and malicious damage very seriously. Historically, only high-end networking equipment required, or could justify, the additional cost of implementing security features onto a final network design. However, the explosion of home networking and the growing number of connected users, and hence possible system attacks, have produced a widespread requirement for low-cost, high-performance security solutions. Different applications have, of course, different security requirements for data privacy, integrity and authentication. In today's communications networks, populated by applications demanding increasing amounts of bandwidth, the ultimate goal of a transparent security processing solution in the end system is impossible to achieve through software. A high-performing secure solution can only be achieved through the use of some form of hardware assistance, specifically designed to off-load the main CPU or network processor from performing the required mathematically intensive security algorithms. The article reviews some of the options.