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System checks optical network security

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jul 31, 2002

The Opterna FiberSentinel is an all-new class of intrusion prevention systems for networks.

The Opterna FiberSentinel is an all-new class of intrusion prevention systems for networks.

FiberSentinel radically changes the intrusion detection paradigm by monitoring the optical physical layer for intrusions and other varied optical event types and taking proactive, immediate, and automatic action to maintain network integrity.

It can be shown that an intruder can easily tap a fibre without being detected.

Readily available network test gear, such as a "clip-on" coupler, allows the noninvasive tapping, monitoring, or jamming of fibre-optic data streams.

Because of the wide optical budgets in fibre-optic network designs, a transmission fibre can undergo substantial attenuation with no data loss, bit errors, signal failures, or network warnings whatsoever.

The network can be easily compromised without anyone ever knowing.

Opterna's FiberSentinel System provides continuous, real-time monitoring of a fibre connection, instantly detects any intrusion attempts, immediately shuts down the intrusion, simultaneously reroutes the traffic to a backup fibre path, and notifies the network operator via the network management system.

WaveSense, FiberSentinel's core technology, automatically identifies, differentiates, and characterises eight distinct optical event types.

"We have seen a tremendous upsurge in interest among our government and military customers for a system that can eliminate their fibre-optic network vulnerabilities", comments Bret A Matz, President of Opterna: "We believe that FiberSentinel is truly a breakthrough product that can provide bullet-proof fibre-optic link security for a wide variety of target markets including the military, intelligence community, financial institutions, and private companies concerned about industrial espionage", added Matz.

FiberSentinel is now available for customer evaluations, and will be offered for both single-mode as well as multimode fibre applications.