Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) is associated with protocol number 50. This protocol is part of the Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) suite and is used to provide confidentiality, authentication, and integrity to the data being transmitted over an IP network.

ESP operates by wrapping the original IP packet with an additional header and trailer, which contain security-related information. This allows it to encrypt the payload data and provide authentication services for both the header and the payload. Therefore, identifying the correct protocol number is essential for proper implementation and troubleshooting in network environments that utilize IPsec for secure communications.

The assigned protocol number 50 for ESP is documented in the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Protocol Numbers list, which ensures that this number is recognized and used consistently across various networking devices and protocols.