Fiber protection and power save with security

A system and method for Passive Optical Networks (PON) providing integration (cross-correlation) of powersave and fiber protection, optionally with encryption, facilitating the successful operation and/or benefits that can be gained when operating a PON system with these features. A major problem with power save is the detection, since both the OLT and the ONUs rely on a valid signal in order to detect fiber failure. However, the OLT may not detect this for sleeping ONUs, and an ONU in Tx/Rx sleep-mode, may not detect a fiber failure, and may not be aware of the OLTs switchover. In addition to solving the problem of combined fiber protection and power savings, a solution is also needed for providing security for this combination. A current embodiment is a system and method for Passive Optical Networks (PON) providing integration (cross-correlation) of powersave and fiber protection, optionally with encryption.