[ih] Internet-history Digest, Vol 39, Issue 4

[John Shoch]

"Are you familiar with 802.1AE, a.k.a. MACsec?"

Of course, the security overlay on 802 came much later.

In the 1980's the government was interested in enhanced "high grade"
security for what was then the DIX Ethernet.  They facilitated a joint
effort between Xerox and a 3rd party.

It was a hard problem:  a box between a host and a transceiver, custom
silicon, government review of everything, etc.  Required manual
distribution of a digital key, on a physical PROM-key device.

Developed in the mid-1980's, it led to a product introduction ca.1989, as
the Xerox Encryption Unit:
https://techmonitor.ai/technology/xerox_device_for_encrypted_open_traffic_on_one_net

>From a history of network encryption,  http://www.toad.com/gnu/netcrypt.html
 :

"Mark Vondemkamp, MarkVon at aol.com
Xerox started selling the Xerox Encryption Unit around 1990. The XEU was a
layer 2 (Ethernet/802.3) network encryption device.
Wang started selling the Trusted Interface Unit around 1990. The TIU was a
layer 2 (Ethernet/802.3) and layer 3 (IP) network encryption device.
These products were based on technology developed by Ultron Labs which
started around 1985 by Ultron Labs."

"Stephen Kent, kent at bbn.com
The XEU and TIU are good examples of inline network crypto from the latter
80s...."