Hardware-and-software-based security architecture for broadband router

Abstract

Implementing IP security in broadband router without sacrificing the performance is main work we focused on. To meet the need of protecting wire speed forwarding data passing through fast path of the router, security module implemented with encryption chip was adopted; to protect non real time data passing through slow path of the router, the scheme of implementing IP security inside kernel of Master control module with software was introduced. Security architecture and several testing architectures were finely designed and depicted in the paper. Testing of security architecture was undergone in SR1880s router, which was developed by National Digital Switching System Engineering & Technological R&D Center of China (NDSC). Testing results show that the two schemes work well together.