1. A computer program product for improving security processing in a computing network, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising: computer readable program code configured to provide a security offload component in an operating system kernel which performs security processing; computer readable program code configured to provide at least one control function in an SSL layer or application layer for directing operation of the security offload component; computer-readable program code configured to execute the at least one provided control function; and computer-readable program code configured to direct the security offload component to secure at least one communication of an application program; wherein the application program executes under the control of the operating system kernel.