Evaluating the impact of latency on the performance of a virtual private network using different encryption algorithms and hashing

Abstract

This study evaluates the performance of a network that employs the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) encryption protocols in conjunction with Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) and Message Digest 5 (MD5) hashing algorithms. The network’s communication between two nodes is facilitated by Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity, providing an additional security layer. Examining how AES and 3DES interact with SHA and MD5 within VPN set up. The study involved two cases; one with AES and the other with 3DES at which each case had a set of two test scenarios which simulated the speed and performance of the selected protocols to simulate the intended scenarios. The simulation scenarios were configuring AES256 with SHA256, AES256 with MD5 and 3DES with SHA256 as well as 3DES with MD5. The simulations carried out measured the latency that impacted the VPN network. Data was collected using network simulation tool “the Ping tool” in an Ubuntu 20.0.1 environment. It is founded that the hashing algorithm SHA256 experienced high Latency compared to MD5 which is contributed by the capacity of processing the hash value by SHA256. Sha256 Produces a hash value that is 266 bits long while MD5 produces a hash value that is 128 bits long, the longer the hash value the longer time is taken to process it. This causes more latency in the network.