TABLE OF CONTENTS The subject of security coprocessors is directly related to the book's main theme of network processors. It would be an obvious omission if they were not somehow included in our coverage. In writing this chapter, our dilemma was how much we could assume that readers had an adequate cryptographic background that would enable them to understand the fundamental concepts of this chapter. After long thought and consultation with people in the industry, we decided that it would be better to include in this chapter some of the basic cryptography knowledge that is required. Therefore, this chapter is more or less self-contained for the nonspecialist reader. If the reader only wants to understand systems issues because cryptography may already be a familiar field, the chapter's introductory sections can be skipped. If the reader has no interest whatsoever in security, this chapter can be seen as an add-on at the end of the main book core. Some readers may not need it. However, others who do need to understand both the cryptography basics and the security coprocessor functionality and trade-offs in a network processing unit (NPU) system will find a lot of interesting information in this extensive chapter.
Although the security of communications was originally a problem of government (predominantly of the military and intelligence) and of a few privileged powerful organizations/corporations that could afford expensive technology-based protection mechanisms, it is now one of the major concerns among individuals and corporations. Information-related crimes...
