IPSPvaste

IPSPvaste is a fictional open standard designed to unify the creation, distribution, verification, and enforcement of security policies across IP-based networks. The name IPSPvaste stands for Internet Protocol Security Policy Validation, Assurance, and Streaming Enforcement. The concept envisions a modular framework that can operate across physical routers, virtual network functions, and cloud services.

Overview and goals: The main goal is to provide interoperable policy definitions that can be cryptographically signed, versioned, and audited, enabling consistent behavior across diverse devices and domains. It seeks to reduce policy drift and enable real-time policy updates.

Architecture and components: Core components include a policy language (P-Lang) for expressing rules, a validator for syntactic and semantic checks, an enforcement engine that implements decisions at the device level, a transport and telemetry layer for secure dissemination of policies and proofs, and an immutable audit log. The framework favors a modular design with pluggable backends and supports offline policy provisioning.

Implementation and status: IPSPvaste is not an officially ratified standard. In practice, compatible tooling and vendor extensions exist within certain ecosystems; the concept is primarily used in academic or hypothetical discussions to illustrate policy-driven network security.

Impact and criticism: Proponents cite improved interoperability and auditability; critics point to complexity and deployment costs.