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What Brocade’s New Encryption Functionality Could Mean for Data Privacy

What Brocade’s New Encryption Functionality Could Mean for Data Privacy

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What Brocade’s new encryption functionality could mean for data privacy is far-reaching, especially for businesses looking to move increasing amounts of data to cloud storage. How much can the company’s efforts boost privacy across the private and public sectors? The details shed new light.

Ensuring End-to-End Data Security

By adding top-level encryption to secure data in-flight, including AES 256-bit keys and 128-MACsec encryption, Brocade has transformed their MLXe routers into one of the most secure platforms available. End-to-end data encryption ensures that information remains comprehensively protected while it’s traveling outside data centers, businesses, and even Internet service providers. This level of protection can also help to lockdown wide area networks (WAN) used in the public sector, which could pay dividends for everyday people transferring files and personal information over the Internet.

Importance of Shielding Data In-Flight

Data in transit across any network, including the Internet, is usually vulnerable to interception from third parties. This happens because security protocols to encrypt the information aren’t as strong in transit as they are inside sending and receiving data centers. By moving IPsec Suite B algorithms inside their modular routers, Brocade can shore up protection at data transfer’s weakest points. Brocade’s innovative move marks the first time in the industry that IT professionals, businesses, and the public sector have wire-speed inline encryption for modular routers.

Stopping Massive Data Loss: Maintaining the privacy of in-flight data is vital to protect businesses and data aggregators from large-scale breaches that can lead to millions of compromised accounts like those seen during the Target and Sony hacking scandals. Corporate secrets falling into the wrong hands could cost companies billions in lost revenue opportunities.

Amplified Performance at a Lower Cost

For years, businesses had the unfortunate dilemma of choosing between network performance and data security. IT professionals went with speed, opting to support productivity and responsiveness, while skirting the edges of true privacy and data integrity. The results were systems that sported faster applications, but ultimately had significant gaps in security. Brocade’s solution could be a game changer in this arena, cutting network latency with wire speeds of 44 billions of bits per second (IPsec) or 200 billions of bits per second (MACsec). That’s about five times the performance over other modular routers.

Encryption functionality, when using Brocade’s technology, doesn’t have to come at the cost of network performance demands.

Both private and public sector entities can keep their firewalls and anti-virus packages enabled with Brocade. Just being able to turn on these and other native security features could make a real difference in the number and frequency of data breaches and attempts in the future. With studies indicating that nearly 83 percent of operational budgets go towards maintenance, freeing up IT expenditures, coupled with cost-effective cloud-based computing, could also leave more room for agility in spending than in years past.

Remove Third-Party Protection Hardware

By cutting the need for third-party security applications and devices, Brocade’s security suite helps businesses reduce network encryption costs by an average 30 percent. This action removes another significant hurdle for adoption that companies have struggled with as their tech demands have grown. They won’t need to keep outside IT on retainer to manage and troubleshoot their equipment or software, allowing in-house teams to manage the monitoring process from start to finish. It’s too soon to gauge I/O based encryption adoption rates in the private or public sector, but the promise of a large cost cut and rigid data protection could lure prominent corporations into Brocade’s fold.

Reduce Complexity in Operation

Complexity in operations is the enemy of data privacy and overall system performance. Add-on devices used by IT departments to keep data in the right hands often need their own maintenance schedules. Keeping all software systems updated to their latest versions is often a full-time job in its own right. Mistakes made in upkeep of non-native systems can cause them to malfunction, opening holes that cyber thieves can exploit to seize proprietary information. By embedding encryption into their routers, Brocade is streamlining the security process, making it simpler for IT professionals to manage at scale. Corporate data protection doesn’t need to resemble a tangled nest of Christmas tree lights. It can, instead, have all-inclusive coverage in one elegant solution.

Privacy for Hybrid Cloud Businesses

Corporations and other businesses large and small continue to move increasing amounts of data storage to the cloud. More than 70 percent of IT departments surveyed by the Ponemon Institute in 2014 have difficulties maintaining control of that uploaded data, including sensitive information. Conventional data storage and security doesn’t fit for the cloud, which adds a layer of complexity that IT professionals struggle to manage, says the survey.

Brocade is targeting a solution for this growing issue with its Vyatta vRouter series, which the company has earmarked for a future release. With this solution, companies with hybrid cloud data storage systems can extend the protection of Brocade’s routers across cloud platforms. This function makes sure network encryption remains intact for both conventional and virtual storage systems. As more companies turn to cloud systems for low-cost storage, corresponding security features will continue to grow in importance.

New Brocade Platforms Rolling Out

Brocade MXLe routers that are interoperable with IPsec Suite B-capable platforms are available now, though the cost of acquisition is prohibitive for some companies. Hardware components needed to support performance speeds will run companies $90,000 at the least for MACsec encryption. Modules that use IPsec and MACsec encryption have a higher starting price, weighing in at $120,000 with no added features. Buyers may also need a service contract with Brocade to get the company’s NetIron OS software (turns on data encryption) at no extra cost.

Implementing Brocade’s security functionality may take time for both smaller and larger businesses. Enterprises with lower revenue, particularly private startups, may run into cost issues, while larger corporations will need key decision makers to sign off before jumping onboard. Those who take advantage in the near future, however, may have a strategic advantage in preventing the next great data breach.

 

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