by : Jesse Miller

The most powerful and most common approach to countering the threats is encryption. If encryption is used to counter these threats, then we need to decide what to encrypt and where the encryption gear should be located. There are two fundamental alternatives link encryption and end to end encryption.

With link encryption, each vulnerable communications link is equipped on both ends with an encryption device. Thus, all traffic over all communications links is secured. Although this requires a lot of encryption devices in a larger network, the value of this approach is clear. One disadvantage of the approach is that the message must be decrypted each time it enters a packet switch; description is necessary because the switch must read the address in the packet header to route the packet. Thus, the message is vulnerable at each switch. If it is a public packet-switching network, the user has no control over the security of the nodes.

With end to end encryption, the encryption process is carried out at the two end systems. The source host or terminal encrypts the data. The data is encrypted form are then transmitted unaltered across the network to the destination terminal, or host. The destination shares a key with the source and so is able to decrypt the data. This approach would seem to secure the transmission against attacks on the network links or switches.

A connects to a packet switching network to transfer end-end encrypted message to the host at the other end, and sets up a virtual circuit to the host. Data is transmitted through the network in the form of packets that consist of a header and some user data. If the host at the other end tries to decrypt the entire packet, it is not possible as only the host can perform the decryption. The packet switching node will receive an encrypted packet and be unable to read the header. Therefore, it will not be able to route the packet. It follows that the host may encrypt only that portion of the packet containing the user data and must leave the header in the clear so that it can be read by the network.

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Thus, with the end to end encryption, the user data are secure. However, the traffic pattern is not because packet headers are transmitted in the clear. To achieve greater security, both link and end to end encryption are needed.