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Computerworld - It's funny how even the mere whisper of the word security causes the masses to flock to the security manager's cube. I often get pulled into situations, meetings or projects just because security, in one form or another, is mentioned. I probably spend about six hours per week reviewing project plans or sitting in meetings in which I have no reason to take part and to which I usually make no contributions.

			This Week's Glossary RC4: An algorithm used for file encryption and to provide a secure, encrypted communications stream to and from Web sites using the SSL protocol. RC4, which was developed in 1987 by Ronald Rivest for RSA Security Inc. in Bedford, Mass., stands for Ron's Code No. 4. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): A security protocol that ensures privacy for the Internet communications stream between the Web client and the server. It's designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering and message forgery. LINKS Understanding SSL is critical for security professionals. A great resource to bookmark and read at your leisure is "What is SSL?" on RSA Security's Web site. The article "Fast. . . & Secure" on the Information Security magazine Web site explains in more detail the options for SSL acceleration and can help you decide which technology is right for you. Irvine, Calif.-based Rainbow Technology Inc.'s CryptoSwift accelerator cards are one approach to accelerating SSL performance. Intel Corp.'s NetStructure devices are a good example of the black box approach to SSL acceleration. One way for companies to address performance issues - SSL-related and otherwise - may be to outsource them to a managed service provider like Coradiant.

So I wasn't surprised when I was recently invited to a brainstorming session on performance issues. I've also been volunteered to be part of the "performance improvement task team." You might ask: What does performance have to do with security? Well, quite a bit in this case. Our application is Web-based. In order to provide transport-level security, we enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for our customers, to give them - and ourselves - the added benefit of encryption.
For those who don't know, SSL is best identified by the little gold lock symbol that appears when you go to a Web site that has "https" instead of "http" in its Web address. I won't go into the details of the SSL protocol, but it's important to know that there are two major aspects of SSL that affect performance.
Do the Math
The first and more taxing aspect is the initial key-generation