Level of VPN Encryption

[jacob04]

Hi Guys,

What's your view on which type of encryption to use ? With my 501 using 3DES, I'm only getting 3 Mbps. Lowering the encryption to DES will improve on this but how secure is this these days ? I see from some of the postings here that quite a few people are still using DES. Anyone recommend against this ? Many thanks.

Regards Jacob.

 

[themut]

How about 128-bit AES encryption? Throughput on the 501 is up to 4.5 Mbps. You will need code 6.3.X in order to use AES.

 

[colinT23]

Hi,

I have thought about using AES but just wanted to know how secure DES is these days considering how many people still use it. Thanks for the reply.

Regards Jacob.

 

[themut]

Well, by today's standards DES cannot be considered secure anymore because its 56-bit key is too short. It is vulnerable to brute-force search of the whole key space.

The only valid reason it is still used, in my humble opinion, is to comply with US export laws intended to ensure the use of breakable ciphers. Other than that, I see no point in using DES when stronger encryption algorithms are available. My two cents...