WISDOM: security-aware fibres.

ABSTRACTThe network is becoming faster day by day. High-speed links, of many Gbps, are considered as commodity technology empowering the Internet. On the other hand, Moore's law still applies to current processing power. It needs about 18 months for CPUs to double the number of their transistors. A very fast network composed by not as fast processors is unable to perform basic operations needed in the security field, like firewalling and intrusion detection. In this paper, we propose a novel system, which promotes security operations in the optical domain. We describe all hardware components - optical and digital - and the software, which renders the system functional. We outline application scenarios in which a hybrid architecture of optical and digital parts, like the one we propose in this paper, can offer significant benefit to the network from a security perspective.