An approach to secure storage area networks using Diffie Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol and PCI express host bus adapter

An area in computing that has many interesting applications is Storage Area Networks (SANs). SANs provide high-speed access to critical and confidential information such as health and financial records. Though data is encrypted, it does not protect against unauthenticated access. The growing number of security breaches is driving the need for greater storage protection.; This study investigates how identity of an entity can be verified using Diffie-Hellman Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. A model, SANGuru, is proposed which authenticates the existing SAN infrastructure by leveraging already available ASIC, driver and firmware. Model is tested using an experimental approach.; The result of this study indicates how SANGuru model can be useful as a first level defense against malicious attacks at different points of access. It also helps keep the authentication standard common across all devices. It also reduces integration time and cost to incorporated security in SANs.