Inline network encryption for multimedia wireless LANs

To secure real-time communication in wireless LANs it is pertinent to implement real time cryptographic services in software or hardware. We evaluate the use of software based inline encryption algorithms for wireless LANs that are implemented in the Layer Service Provider as defined by WinSock 2 for Windows. The evaluated encryption algorithms run on each PC that is part of the wireless LAN. We present the throughput requirements from the inline encryptors for various multimedia applications such as video conferencing, collaborative work, distributed data bases and distributed processing. Our measurements show that software implementation of various encryptors provides enough throughput as required by the above applications.