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Today's focus: Storage security
By Michael Cooney
As the use of storage area networks spreads and more employees
have access to the data traversing them, so the need for better
security grows.
Our Technology Update author (shekhar@neoscale.com)
this week
takes a look at one technology currently being implemented in
products as a way to provide integrity and confidentiality to
IP datagrams in storage environments. Called Encapsulating
Security Payload (ESP), it is the mechanism for providing
storage authentication, depending on which algorithm and
algorithm mode are used.
Our author says ESP can secure communications between any two
entities in a switched storage fabric and the IETF iSCSI
proposal specifies it for link security. Depending on the
user's security requirements, the technology is implemented in
storage devices and provides a mechanism to encrypt either a
transport-layer segment (e.g., TCP, UDP, ICMP, IGMP) or an
entire IP datagram.
Our author claims Encapsulating Security Payload is a well-
defined and well-understood protocol for securing data in
flight.
Encapsulating Security Payload could end up being an important
part of your storage security checklist. But there are other
items that could be on that checklist. EMC, IBM, Cisco,
Microsoft and others this year submitted a draft to the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defining how they think
IP Security (IPSec) should be implemented in storage devices -
as single-chip ASICs, in software, or by deploying a VPN device
in front of storage facilities.
We'll be hearing more about this topic.
For more on this story see:
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/tech/2002/1202techupdate.html
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To contact Michael Cooney:
Michael Cooney is an Associate News Editor. Aside from his news
responsibilities, Cooney handles the Infrastructure and
Enterprise Application sections of Network World. Cooney has
been with in the industry for 13 years -- the last 9 with
Network World.
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WHAT DO YOU GET FOR THE NETWORK MANAGER ON YOUR HOLIDAY LIST?
Find out what Senior Reviews Editor Keith Shaw recommends as
the best bets in holiday gifts for the sophisticated network
manager on your list. This year the selection ranges from PC
games and digital video cameras to MP3 players and "personal
storage". So, give in to your consumerist instinct and start
shopping today. http://www.nwfusion.com/hgg/2002/?net
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RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS
Valt.X locks down storage resources
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0128infra.html
Debate flares over IP storage security
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0121stor.html
Turning the security lens on storage
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2002/1104edit.html
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