Cisco and RSA to co-develop encryption technology

Cisco Systems and RSA are teaming up to develop encryption technology.

The networking giant will work with the security division of EMC to create technology to encrypt data-at-rest on tapes and other types of storage media.

The partnership will also manage the associated encryption keys within Cisco's storage area network infrastructure.

The planned technology will include Cisco's Storage Media Encryption, which provides encryption of data-at-rest as a fabric service, and RSA Key Manager, a centralised offering for encryption key lifecycle management.

Cisco will integrate Storage Media Encryption into its San fabrics to offer management of data encryption across multiple types of storage device, such as disks, tapes drives and virtual tape libraries.

According to the firm, by encrypting data in the network fabric, customers can secure data on media that lack native encryption capabilities, such as legacy tapes and disks.

"Security threats are no longer confined to companies with back-up tapes stored at an offsite facility," said Rajeev Bhardwaj, director of product management at Cisco's Data Centre Business unit.

"Now companies of all sizes are exploring encryption because of the real threat of losing data or having it stolen."

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