A strategy implemented within an organization’s data center in order to handle the encryption, decryption and verification of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) transmissions across a business network. Utilizes an external dedicated hardware device that is specially designed to perform SSL processing duties, thereby freeing up server resources that can be devoted to other tasks.

With the amount of traffic and processing operations demanded of a company’s servers, the translation of secure data only adds further strain to an already busy system. Encrypting and decrypting information sent via SSL eats up server resources that could otherwise be spent assisting the functionality of other application delivery procedures. Implementing SSL offloading can alleviate strain placed on servers while optimizing not only SSL duties, but also overall network performance. Companies can shift a portion of encryption/decryption processes away from data center servers by using an SSL accelerator. This device is specifically designed to perform SSL tasks. The offloading process also provides added security to business networks by identifying malicious traffic disguised as normal SSL encrypted files. Because offloading devices are devoted to SSL activities, they have a better ability to discover these hidden attacks than normal intrusion prevention systems.