Analysis and Consideration on Management of Encrypted Traffic

Abstract: Encrypted traffic poses new and unique challenges for network operators because information that is useful or necessary for management purposes is not accessible anymore. This paper examines proposed approaches to provide end-to-end encryption as well as ways to provide the access to the needed information for network management. The two main approaches we consider are 1.- extending and adapting a widely deployed protocol such as TLS, so that information necessary for network management can be obtained; and 2.- introducing a new protocol layer, such as PLUS, that contains the necessary information outside of the encrypted payload. In this paper we discuss different aspects of these approaches in order to give recommendations for future work and suggest to raise awareness by establishing venues where discussions between interested parties can take place.