Practical Network Scanning

MACsec—Layer-2 Encryption

As the name implies, MACsec is a MAC layer or link layer encryption that offers a simplified, line-rate, per port encryption option for secure next-generation high bandwidth deployments. Organizations that comply with FIPS, HIPAA, and PCI DSS have to implement strong cryptography to protect sensitive data during transmission. MACsec provides great hop-by-hop deployment flexibility. Whenever you feel the public infrastructure is not safe, you can implement MACsec between transport nodes.

Use Cases: You can use MACsec encryption end-to-end using the following examples:

• Host-to-Switch
• Switch-to-Switch
• Router-to-Switch
• Router-to-Router Data center Interconnect

Let's look at the 802.1 AE (MACsec) format: The actual ...