SSL transactions per second (TPS) using just the CPU on the test servers totaled 3,632 in one experiment, the researchers stated. Using the proxy GPU and their algorithm yielded 18,482 TPS. The group used an Intel Xeon X5550 CPU ($260) with four cores and an NVIDIA GTX 480 graphic card with 480 cores.

SSLShader still has some shortcomings, the most notable of which is that he GPU processing works well for transactions under 1MB, but for larger transactions, the CPU works better because of the overhead of copying when the proxy is in place, according to the researcher's of SSLShader.

Another problem is that the kernel used on the has a networking stack that doesn't scale well to take advantage of multiple CPU cores, the researchers say.

The researchers say they plan to make their software available, but didn't say when. The team consists of Keon Jang, Sangjin Han, Sue Moon and KyoungSoo Park, all of KAIST in Korea, and Seungyeop Han of the University of Washington.

One of the traditional obstacles to using SSL to protect Web sites is the extra processing demand and its associated costs, says John Pironti, president of IP Architects, a consulting firm, and the security track chairman for Interop. "The infrastructure costs to enable SSL can be challenging," he says, depending on the size and complexity of the deployment.