How much overhead does mTLS add to microservices?

Envoy proxy (Istio) mTLS per-request overhead: 0.2-2ms latency, 5-15% CPU overhead on request path. For high-throughput services (10K+ RPS), mTLS adds 10-20% CPU cost. On AES-NI hardware, overhead drops to 2-5%. Service mesh amortizes this by handling certificate rotation automatically.

Is east-west encryption worth the performance cost?

Yes for regulated environments: HIPAA, PCI DSS, and FedRAMP mandate encryption in transit including internal traffic. Performance cost is justified: lateral movement after perimeter breach is the primary attack vector. mTLS prevents credential theft from allowing east-west propagation.

East-West Traffic Encryption Overhead Calculator

Calculate CPU and throughput overhead of encrypting east-west (inter-service) traffic with mTLS. Assess service mesh encryption impact on microservices performance.

Networking

Algorithms

Binary & Number

Systems

Dev Metrics

IP Subnet Calculator

IP Address

CIDR Prefix

Network

192.168.1.0

Broadcast

192.168.1.255

Subnet Mask

255.255.255.0

First Host

192.168.1.1

Last Host

192.168.1.254

Usable Hosts

254

Binary breakdown:

IP: 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000

Mask: 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000

Net: 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000

How to Use

Enter the values for the patient or scenario you are assessing. Calculate CPU and throughput overhead of encrypting east-west (inter-service) traffic with mTLS. Assess service mesh encryption impact on microservices performance. Use the east-west encryption result to inform your clinical assessment.

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