Xena transport layer security performance testing

Xena transport layer security performance testing (TLS) supports the latest encryption standard. It reveals performance bottlenecks of TLS/HTTPS middle boxes/proxies, addresses security performance testing requirements and optimises security parameters.

SSL/TLS encrypts traffic (web browsing, email, ftp), but it can also encrypt malicious content, such as virus and malware. A lot of security devices such as the next generation of firewalls and packet brokers can now decrypt the SSL/TLS traffic on one side, inspect the content, and encrypt the traffic on the other side, acting as a proxy.

Since these devices (either standalone or combined) can see the decrypted content of the traffic, they can do many things such as antivirus, application on control, intrusion prevention on, web filtering, etc. However, there is a trade-off between security and performance. When inline devices do more computing-intensive jobs, the traffic throughput drops. The challenge is finding the right balance between security and performance.

Xena TLS is a feature in XenaConnect (the free software included with all L4-7 solutions) that makes it quick and easy for test engineers to evaluate different TLS implementation so they can decide which provides the best balance of security and performance. It lets them find the sweet spot of their device configuration or develop better products by providing users with native TLS traffic generation on using up-to-date cipher suites and certificates, so that they can thoroughly test the performance of their devices such as handshake per second, concurrent TLS session and TLS throughput.