Network security on multiple levels (was Re: NYT covers China cyberthreat)

Wed Feb 20 19:48:29 UTC 2013

--- On Wed, 2/20/13, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Owen DeLong" <owen at delong.com>

> > The DACS question wasn't about DACS owned by the people
> using the
> > circuit, it was about DACS inside the circuit provider.
> When you buy a
> > DS1 that goes through more than one CO in between two
> points, you're
> > virtually guaranteed that it goes through one or more
> of {DS-3 Mux,
> > Fiber Mux, DACS, etc.}. All of these are under the
> control of the
> > circuit provider and not you.
> 
> Correct, and they expand the attack surface in ways that
> even many 
> network engineers may not consider unless prompted.

This is precisely the value of encryption on point to point links, preferably at the link layer rather than at the IP layer.  When coupled with decent end-to-end application-layer encryption on top of that, the value proposition for sniffing traffic from the network drops a whole lot.

David Barak
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