Page 14 - FCW, June 2017

CYBERSECURITY OPTICAL DATA ENCRYPTION
availability while drastically reducing latency, complexity, and cost.
Reducing latency also speeds data transport, thus increasing productivity. And faster speeds help better meet service level agreement (SLA) requirements.
Optical encryption is especially useful for latency- sensitive applications, such as high-definition video,
Because data is encrypted in the modem, the encryption function does not increase the processing time (latency) at each encryption site. Other technologies do increase latency. In most cases, it
travels at line speed in bandwidths from
10 Gbps to 200 Gbps. So when the modem
increases speed, so does the encryption.
Ciena’s optical encryption technology,
WaveLogic Encryption, provides wire-
speed encryption with 100 percent
throughput, contrary to higher layer encryption solutions that can waste a significant amount of bandwidth on encryption overhead.
Besides high availability, strong scalability and ultra- low latency, optical encryption solutions are often less expensive than encryption options that work at higher layers of the network. Not only does optical encryption eliminate additional hardware, but also the maintenance and personnel that go along with that hardware.
Cybersecurity by the Numbers
16 | The number of cyber-incidents considered “major” by federal agency heads, out of nearly 31,000 incidents
46 | The average amount of days it takes to resolve a cyberattack
50 | The percentage of attacks that will use SSL/TLS encryption to avoid detection
300 | The percentage of increased ransomware attacks nationwide in 2016 over 2015
1,300 | The percentage of increased cyberattacks in federal agencies over the past ten years
4,868 | The number of federal cyberattacks, out of nearly 31,000, reported as web-based or web application-based attacks
21,155 | The average cost of a data breach, per day
3.1 billion | The proposed federal budget for cybersecurity and modernizing IT
Not only does optical encryption eliminate additional hardware, but also the maintenance and personnel that go along with that hardware.
which requires a secure, ultra-low latency transport solution. “You can’t get lower latency than inside
the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) of a modem,” says Kimball. This benefits all applications where high-definition video is important, from telehealth and disaster relief to surveillance and video from drones.
Encryption at layer 1 also more easily accommodates the high speeds and large data sets that other technol- ogies often can’t. Any agency working with large data sets can benefit. For example, the amount of data re- sulting from large research projects, such as those run in high performance computing (HPC) environments, can overwhelm traditional security methods.
Applications requiring secure collaboration
and data sharing between participants also
benefit from optical encryption. Whether used in videoconferencing, virtual meetings or secure file- sharing, sensitive data must be encrypted before it is shared.
Agencies that routinely transport encrypted
data between different locations also are excellent candidates for optical encryption. One example is data sent overseas. Any data leaving our nation’s borders must be encrypted and optical encryption techniques work as well on submarine links as terrestrial
links. It’s also an effective and secure method for transporting Personally Identifiable Information.
THE OPTICAL ENCRYPTION SOLUTION
With benefits like ultra-low latency and high availability, optical encryption makes a lot of sense for agencies wanting to upgrade their data-in-transit
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