A technique for over-the-top end-to-end (OTT E2E) information security in a data center providing IT infrastructure for an enterprise network. The technique provides a hardware-to-hardware and/or hardware-to-software PKI over-the-top encryption method that can be applied to both hardware devices and virtual devices. The hardware side may be implemented in a customer premises-based physical enclosure (e.g., a concentrator) having multiple ports. Each port has associated therewith an integrated circuit-based NID. This device provides OSI Layer 2 encryption offloaded to a PKI processor on this chip. Preferably, this process of handling encryption is transparent, with all handling of keys occurring automatically during a device discovery operation. Each key is configured for use for the single port for which the associated device is responsible. This approach allows separate keys on each port to curtail brute force decryption; in the event of key exposure, only one port at a time can become compromised.