# Application-Aware Network Traffic Management in MEC-Integrated Industrial Environments
## 4 The Case for Application-Aware Network Traffic Management
Not only MEC can nodes be de/activated elastically (meaning no up-front costs are required), but because they are directly deployed on cell towers, telco operators can provide such resources with low latency (largely less than for any other virtualized resource at traditional geographically distant datacenters) to their users. Note that low latency is crucial when MEC nodes perform mission-critical tasks requiring a timely response. However, steering traffic flows outside the industrial boundaries raises confidentiality concerns, which cannot be neglected in industrial environments. This calls for a fifth capability, i.e., data encryption. Because data encryption is CPU-intensive and must be enforced as flows traverse the network, it introduces important tradeoffs to consider at runtime. If the wireless communication link toward the MEC-enabled cell tower is trusted, only MEC resources could be used for encryption and the only data whose routes traverse the Internet would be required to be encrypted. On the other hand, if there is no security assumption over the wireless communication link toward the MEC-enabled cell tower, data encryption should occur on-premises. In this regard, note that (i) some legacy industrial machines might not implement any security by design, and software updates might be forbidden by manufacturers, (ii) some resource-constrained devices might not support any security protocol because of insufficient local resources, and (iii) some battery-powered devices might not implement security mechanisms for reducing energy consumption. In our proposal, we investigated symmetric and asymmetric algorithms, each with its pros and cons, to select the most suitable tradeoff depending on application requirements and the characteristics of the considered deployment scenario. Symmetric algorithms, for example, have the drawback of requiring the sharing of a secret key among the parties. Asymmetric algorithms, instead, overcome such drawbacks but are more computationally intensive and slower than symmetric ones. In particular, we explored homomorphic cryptography (a kind of asymmetric cryptography) because it allows the processing of encrypted data without first decrypting them. This, in turn, enables payload processing on off-premising edge computing resources without breaking confidentiality.In our proposal, several cryptography algorithms are available, e.g., a/symmetric and homomorphic, each with its own pros and cons, in order to select the most suitable tradeoff depending on application requirements and the characteristics of the considered deployment scenario. For example, symmetric algorithms are faster than asymmetric and homomorphic ones but have the drawbacks of a secret key shared by the parties. Homomorphic algorithms, instead, have the advantage of allowing computations on encrypted data without first decrypting them, but at the expense of higher latency. In short, enabling application-aware network traffic management requires novel solutions to jointly orchestrate the networking and computing capabilities outlined above, with the most suitable dynamic tradeoffs tailored to the targeted deployment scenarios and supported industrial applications.