Sandvine, a leading provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, today released a new Global Internet Phenomena Spotlight report on encrypted Internet traffic. According to Sandvine, Netflix’s recent decision to encrypt their traffic will result in over two-thirds of North American Internet traffic being encrypted in 2016 . Sandvine said that although YouTube is the largest source of encrypted traffic in North America, it is still a significant contributor of unencrypted traffic. The company added that the simplicity of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “Let’s Encrypt” program, due to be launched in mid-2015, will help drive encryption adoption among smaller sites.
Big players in the streaming music space have adopted a mixed approach towards encrypting. Google Play traffic for example, is encrypted, preventing the ability of third-parties to identify the apps, movies, and music being consumed by subscribers. Apple’s iTunes traffic however remains unencrypted.
Don Bowman, CTO, Sandvine
The decision by leading applications to encrypt their traffic is great for subscribers because it ensures the content of their Internet traffic remains private. The policy solutions that Sandvine focuses on have never required identification of content, just applications or application categories. Even with the majority of Internet traffic becoming encrypted, Sandvine will still be able to provide highly accurate identification of encrypted applications so that operators can continue to offer innovative application service plans to their subscribers.
