Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

Security Association

Security Association(SA) is an instance of security policy and keying material applied to a data flow. Both IKE and IPSec use SAs, although SAs are independent of one another. IPSec SAs are unidirectional and are unique in each security protocol. An IKE SA is used by IKE only, and unlike the IPSec SA, it is bidirectional. IKE negotiates and establishes SAs on behalf of IPSec. A user also can establish IPSec SAs manually. For example, if you have a pipe that supports ESP between peers, one ESP SA is required for each direction. SAs are identified uniquely by destination (IPSec endpoint) address, security protocol (AH or ESP), and security parameter index (SPI).

Related Terms

Security Association