Key Management; Other Public-Key Cryptosystems

May 11, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

Use of public key-scheme in key distribution:
- The distribution of public keys.
  - Public announcement.
  - Publicly available directory.
  - Public-key authority.
  - Public-key certificates.
- The use of public-key encryption to distribute secret keys.
Public announcement of keys has one weakness in that anyone can forge key and then the forger pretend as being authenticated participant.

Elements of Publicly Available Directory:
- The authority maintains a directory with a {name, public key} entry for each participant.
- Each participant registers a public key with the directory authority.
- A participant may replace the existing key with a new one at any time.
- Participants could also access the directory electronically.
  - So, secure, authenticated communication from the authority to the participant is mandatory.
The weakness of this scheme is that if an adversary succeeds in obtaining or computing the private key of the directory authority, the adversary could authoritatively pass out counterfeit public keys.

292-Steps for successful message exchange in public-key authority.

A technique known as caching. Periodically, a user should request fresh copies of the public keys of its correspondents to ensure currency.
Requirements for Public-Key Certificate:
- Any participant can read a certificate to determine the name and public key of the certificate’s owner.
- Any participant can verify that the certificate originated from the certificate authority and is not counterfeit.
- Only the certificate authority can create and update certificates.
- Any participant can verify the currency of the certificate.

The timestamp T validates the currency of the certificate (i.e. that the current certificate is what B’s has).
Simple Secret Key Distribution Communication Steps:
- A generates a public/private key pair {PU_a, PR_a} and transmits a message to B consisting of PU_a and an identifier of A, ID_A.
- B generates a secret key, K_s, and transmits it to A, encrypted with A’s public key.
- A computes D(PR_a, E(PU_a, K_s)) to recover the secret key. Because only A can decrypt the message, only A and B will know the identity of K_s.
- A discards PU_a and PR_a and B discards PU_a.
Man-in-the-middle attack is a form of active attack in which the attacker intercepts and selectively modifies communicated data in order to masquerade as one or more of the entities involved in a communication.
296-Read how an adversary can compromise the communication between two entities without being detected.
Steps for Secret Key Distribution with Confidentiality and Authentication:
- A uses B’s public key to encrypt a message to B containing an identifier of A (ID_A) and a nonce (N₁), which is used to identify this transaction uniquely.
- B sends a message to A encrypted with PU_a and containing A’s nonce (N₁) as well as a new nonce generated by B (N₂) Because only B could have decrypted message (1), the presence of N₁ in message (2) assures A that the correspondent is B.
- A returns N₂ encrypted using B’s public key, to assure B that its correspondent is A.
- A selects a secret key K_s and sends M = E(PU_b, E(PR_a, K_s)) to B. Encryption of this message with B’s public key ensures that only B can read it; encryption with A’s private key ensures that only A could have sent it.
- B computes D(PU_a, D(PR_b, M)) to recover the secret key.

A hybrid scheme retains the use of a key distribution center (KDC) that shares a secret master key with each user and distributes secret session keys encrypted with the master key. A public key scheme is used to distribute the master keys.

Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange

The purpose of the algorithm is to enable two users to securely exchange a key that can then be used for subsequent encryption of messages. The algorithm itself is limited to the exchange of secret values.

The security of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange lies in the fact that, while it is relatively easy to calculate exponentials modulo a prime, it is very difficult to calculate discrete logarithms. For large primes, the latter task is considered infeasible.
If the exchange of Y_A and Y_B was not secure a man-in-the-middle attack may occurs.

Elliptic Curve Arithmetic

The principal attraction of ECC, compared to RSA, is that it appears to offer equal security for a far smaller key size, thereby reducing processing overhead.
Elliptic curves are not ellipses. They are so named because they are described by cubic equations.

y² + axy + by = x³ + cx² + dx + e

Public Key Cryptography and RSA

May 10, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

Asymmetric encryption is a form of cryptosystem in which encryption and decryption are performed using the different keys one a public key and one a private key. It is also known as public-key encryption.
Asymmetric encryption can be used for confidentiality, authentication, or both.
The difficulty of attacking RSA is based on the difficulty of finding the prime factors of a composite number.
In fact, the security of any encryption scheme depends on the length of the key and the computational work involved in breaking a cipher.
Public-Key encryption techniques suffer from the computational overhead. This supports the need for using Private-Key encryption.

Principles of Public-Key Cryptosystems

The concept of public-key cryptography evolved from an attempt to attack two of the most difficult problems associated with symmetric encryption:
- Key distribution.
  - That was done using either:
    - Two communicants already share a key, which somehow has been distributed to them.
    - The use of a key distribution center.
- Need for digital signature.
  - That is, could a method be devised that would stipulate, to the satisfaction of all parties, that a digital message had been sent by a particular person? (authentication purpose).
Characteristics of public-key cryptosystem:
- It is computationally infeasible to determine the decryption key given only knowledge of the cryptographic algorithm and the encryption key.
- In RSA, either of the two related keys can be used for encryption, with the other used for decryption.

261-Essential steps for the encryption process.

The disadvantage of this last approach is that the public-key algorithm, which is complex, must be exercised four times rather than two in each communication.
Classification of public key cryptosystem:
- Encryption/Decryption.
- Digital Signature.
- Key Exchange.

Requirements for public-key cryptography:
- It is computationally easy for a party B to generate a pair (public key PU_b, private key PR_b).
- It is computationally easy for a sender A, knowing the public key and the message to be encrypted, M, to generate the corresponding ciphertext: C = E(PU_b, M).
- It is computationally easy for the receiver B to decrypt the resulting ciphertext using the private key to recover the original message: M = D(PR_b, C) = D[PR_b, E(PU_b, M)].
- It is computationally infeasible for an adversary, knowing the public key, PU_b, to determine the private key, PR_b.
- It is computationally infeasible for an adversary, knowing the public key, PU_b, and a ciphertext, C, to recover the original message, M.
- The two keys can be applied in either order: M = D[PU_b, E(PR_b, M)] = D[PR_b, E(PU_b, M)].
A

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Slight Introduction to Number Theory

April 22, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

A prime number is an integer that can only be divided without remainder by positive and negative values of itself and 1. Prime numbers play a critical role both in number theory and in cryptography.

Discrete logarithms are fundamental to a number of public-key algorithms. Discrete logarithms are analogous to ordinary logarithms, but operate over modular arithmetic.

1 is not considered as prime number.

Prime Numbers

Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic:

Any integer a > 1 can be factorized in a unique way as: .

Where p1 < p₂ < … < p_t are prime numbers and where each is a positive integer.

The value of any given positive integer can be specified by simply listing all the nonzero exponents in the foregoing formulation: The integer 12 is represented by {a₂ = 2, a₃ = 1}.

Multiplication of two numbers is equivalent to adding the corresponding exponents. Given and . Define. We know that the integer k can be expressed as the product of powers of primes: . It follows that for all .

Example:

Any integer of the form pⁿ can be divided only by an integer that is of a lesser or equal power of the same prime number p^j with j
n. Thus, we can say the following:

Given and . If a|b then for all p.

Fermat’s Theorem

Fermat’s theorem states the following:

If p is prime and a is a positive integer not divisible by p, then:

If p is prime and a is a positive integer, then: .

Euler’s Totient Function:

Euler’s totient function written as , defined as the number of positive integers less than n and relatively prime to n. By convention, .

It should be clear that for a prime number p, .

Now suppose that we have two prime numbers p and q, with . Then we can show that for .

.

Euler’s Theorem:

Euler’s theorem states that for every a and n that are relatively prime:

Discrete Logarithms

Discrete logarithms are fundamental to a number of public-key algorithms, including Diffie-Hellman key exchange and the digital signature algorithm (DSA).

More generally, we can say that the highest possible exponent to which a number can belong (mod n) is (n). If a number is of this order, it is referred to as a primitive root of n. The importance of this notion is that if a is a primitive root of n, then its powers are distinct (mod n) and are all relatively prime to n. In particular, for a prime number p, if a is a primitive root of p, then .

for any integer b and a primitive root a of prime number p, we can find a unique exponent i such that

1

This exponent i is referred to as the discrete logarithm of the number b for the base a (mod p). We denote this value as dlog_a.p(b).

Properties of Discrete Logarithms:

dlog_a.p(1) = 0 -> a⁰mod n = 1

dlog_a.p(a) = 1 -> a¹ mod n = a

dlog_a.p(XY) = dlog_a.p(X) + dlog_a.p(Y)

dlog_a.p(X^Y) = Y dlog_a.p(X).

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Confidentiality using Symmetric Encryption

April 12, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

In a distributed environment, encryption devices can be placed to support:

Link encryption:

Each vulnerable communications link is equipped on both ends with an encryption device.

End-to-end encryption:

The encryption process is carried out at the two end systems.

Traffic padding in a countermeasure for traffic analysis attacks, which involves sending random bits during periods when no encrypted data are available for transmission.

Key distribution is the function that delivers a key to two parties who wish to exchange secure encrypted data.

Key distribution often involves the use of master keys, which are infrequently used and are long lasting, and session keys, which are generated and distributed for temporary use between two parties.

Confidentiality ensures that information is accessible only to those authorized to have access.

Authentication means verifying the identity of a user logging onto a network. Passwords, digital certificates, smart cards and biometrics can be used to prove the identity of the user to the network.

Placement of Encryption Function

This section examines the potential locations of security attacks and then looks at the two major approaches to encryption placement: link and end to end.

Potential Locations for Security Attacks

For active attacks, the attacker needs to gain physical control of a portion of the link and be able to insert and capture transmissions.

For a passive attack, the attacker merely needs to be able to observe transmissions.

Twisted pair and coaxial cable can be attacked using either:

Invasive taps:

Allows both active and passive attacks

Inductive devices:

That monitors electromagnetic emanations and helpful only for passive attacks.

Neither type of tap is as effective with optical fiber.

Active attacks on microwave and satellite are also possible, although they are more difficult technically and can be quite expensive.

An attack can take the form of attempts to modify the hardware or software, to gain access to the memory of the processor, or to monitor the electromagnetic emanations.

Thus, there are a large number of locations at which an attack can occur. Furthermore, for wide area communications, many of these locations are not under the physical control of the end user.

If encryption is to be used to counter these attacks, then we need to decide:

What to encrypt.

Where the encryption gear should be located.

As Figure 7.2 indicates, there are two fundamental alternatives: link encryption and end-to-end encryption:

In link encryption,

All traffic over all communications links is secured.

The message must be decrypted each time it enters a switch (such as a frame relay switch) because the switch must read the address (logical connection number) in the packet header in order to route the frame. Thus, the message is vulnerable at each switch. If working with a public network, the user has no control over the security of the nodes.

Many keys must be provided for more effectiveness.

For this strategy to be effective:

All the potential links in a path from source to destination must use link encryption.

Each pair of nodes that share a link should share a unique key, with a different key used on each link.

With end-to-end encryption,

The user data are secure.

However, the traffic pattern is not, because packet headers are transmitted in the clear.

On the other hand, end-to-end encryption does provide a degree of authentication.

If two end systems share an encryption key, then a recipient is assured that any message that it receives comes from the alleged sender, because only that sender shares the relevant key. Such authentication is not inherent in a link encryption scheme.

To achieve greater security, both link and end-to-end encryption are needed.

In terms of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, link encryption occurs at either the physical or link layers.

See figure below. Note that: The terms red and black are frequently used. Red data are sensitive or classified data in the clear. Black data are encrypted data

Traffic Confidentiality

Knowledge about the number and length of messages between nodes may enable an opponent to determine who is talking to whom.

Types of information that can be derived from a traffic analysis attack:

Identities of partners.

How frequently the partners are communicating.

Message pattern, message length, or quantity of messages that suggest important information is being exchanged.

The events that correlate with special conversations between particular partners.

Another concern related to traffic is the use of traffic patterns to create a covert channel.

A covert channel is a means of communication in a fashion unintended by the designers of the communications facility. Typically, the channel is used to transfer information in a way that violates a security policy.

Link Encryption approach to counter traffic analysis:

Traffic padding produces ciphertext output continuously, even in the absence of plaintext. A continuous random data stream is generated. When plaintext is available, it is encrypted and transmitted. When input plaintext is not present, random data are encrypted and transmitted. This makes it impossible for an attacker to distinguish between true data flow and padding and therefore impossible to deduce the amount of traffic.

End-To-End approach to counter traffic analysis:

One technique that might prove useful is to pad out data units to a uniform length at either the transport or application level.

In addition, null messages can be inserted randomly into the stream.

These tactics deny an opponent knowledge about the amount of data exchanged between end users and obscure the underlying traffic pattern.

Key Distribution

Key distribution technique, a term that refers to the means of delivering a key to two parties who wish to exchange data, without allowing others to see the key.

Ways of key distribution:

A can select a key and physically deliver it to B.

Third party can select the key and physically deliver it to A and B.

If A and B have previously and recently used a key, one party can transmit the new key to the other, encrypted using the old key.

If A and B each has an encrypted connection to a third party C, C can deliver a key on the encrypted links to A and B.

Key Distribution Center

The use of a key distribution center (KDC) is based on the use of a hierarchy of keys.

At a minimum, two levels of keys are used (Figure 7.8).

Communication between end systems is encrypted using a temporary key, often referred to as a session key.

Typically, the session key is used for the duration of a logical connection, such as a frame relay connection or transport connection, and then discarded.

Each session key is obtained from the key distribution center over the same networking facilities used for end-user communication.

Accordingly, session keys are transmitted in encrypted form, using a master key that is shared by the key distribution center and an end system or user.

For each end system or user, there is a unique master key that it shares with the key distribution center.

A Key Distribution Scenario: page 212-214.

It is not necessary to limit the key distribution function to a single KDC. Indeed, for very large networks, it may not be practical to do so.

Advantages of hierarchical scheme:

Minimizes the effort involved in master key distribution, because most master keys are those shared by a local KDC with its local entities.

Limits the damage of a faulty or subverted KDC to its local area only.

Session Key Life Time

The more frequently session keys are exchanged, the more secure they are.

On the other hand, the distribution of session keys delays the start of any exchange and places a burden on network capacity.

A security manager must try to balance these competing considerations in determining the lifetime of a particular session key.

Key Distribution

In figure 7.10 the security service is called “Session Security Module” (SSM).

The automated key distribution approach provides the flexibility and dynamic characteristics needed to allow a number of terminal users to access a number of hosts and for the hosts to exchange data with each other.

The use of a key distribution center imposes the requirement that the KDC be trusted and be protected from subversion. This requirement can be avoided if key distribution is fully decentralized. Although full decentralization is not practical for larger networks using symmetric encryption only, it may be useful within a local context.

A decentralized approach requires that each end system be able to communicate in a secure manner with all potential partner end systems for purposes of session key distribution.

Controlling Key Usage

Types of session keys:

Data-encrypting key, for general communication across a network.

PIN-encrypting key, for personal identification numbers (PINs) used in electronic funds transfer and point-of-sale applications.

File-encrypting key, for encrypting files stored in publicly accessible locations.

Extra 8 Tag bits in each 64-bit DES key that represents identification for key have the following interpretation:

One bit indicates whether the key is a session key or a master key.

One bit indicates whether the key can be used for encryption.

One bit indicates whether the key can be used for decryption.

The remaining bits are spares for future use.

Drawback of embedding key tag within key:

The tag length is limited to 8 bits, limiting its flexibility and functionality.

Because the tag is not transmitted in clear form, it can be used only at the point of decryption, limiting the ways in which key use can be controlled.

A more flexible scheme, referred to as the control vector. In this scheme, each session key has an associated control vector consisting of a number of fields that specify the uses and restrictions for that session key. The length of the control vector may vary.

The control vector is cryptographically coupled with the key at the time of key generation at the KDC.

Coupling/Decoupling processes are illustrated below:

Advantages of using vector control approach:

There is no restriction on length of the control vector, which enables arbitrarily complex controls to be imposed on key use.

The control vector is available in clear form at all stages of operation. Thus, control of key use can be exercised in multiple locations.

Random Number Generation

Usages of random numbers:

Reciprocal authentication.

Session key generation.

Generation of keys for the RSA public-key encryption algorithm.

Requirements for sequence of random number:

Randomness:

Randomness criteria:

Uniform distribution:

The distribution of numbers in the sequence should be uniform; that is, the frequency of occurrence of each of the numbers should be approximately the same.

Independence:

No one value in the sequence can be inferred from the others.

Unpredictability.

Pseudorandom numbers are resulting sequences will pass many reasonable tests of randomness.

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Multiple Encryption and Triple DES

April 11, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

Multiple encryption is a technique in which an encryption algorithm is used multiple times. In the first instance, plaintext is converted to ciphertext using the encryption algorithm.

Triple DES makes use of three stages of the DES algorithm, using a total of two or three distinct keys.

A mode of operation is a technique for enhancing the effect of a cryptographic algorithm or adapting the algorithm for an application, such as applying a block cipher to a sequence of data blocks or a data stream.

Five modes of operation have been standardized for use with symmetric block ciphers such as DES and AES:

Electronic codebook mode.

Cipher block chaining mode.

Cipher feedback mode.

Output feedback mode.

Counter mode.

A stream cipher is a symmetric encryption algorithm in which ciphertext output is produced bit-by-bit or byte-by-byte from a stream of plaintext input. The most widely used such cipher is RC4.

Multiple Encryption Techniques:

Double DES.

Double encryption, and indeed any number of stages of multiple encryption with DES, would be useless because the result would be equivalent to a single encryption with a single 56-bit key.

Triple DES with 2 keys.

3DES with 3 keys.

Meet-in-the-middle attack:

Given a known pair, (P, C), the attack proceeds as follows.

First, encrypt P for all 2⁵⁶ possible values of K₁ Store these results in a table and then sort the table by the values of X.

Next, decrypt C using all 2⁵⁶ possible values of K₂. As each decryption is produced, check the result against the table for a match.

If a match occurs, then test the two resulting keys against a new known plaintext-ciphertext pair. If the two keys produce the correct ciphertext, accept them as the correct keys.

As an alternative, Tuchman proposed a triple encryption method that uses only two keys. The function follows an encrypt-decrypt-encrypt (EDE) sequence.

Currently, there are no practical cryptanalytic attacks on 3DES.

Attacks on 3DES:

Attack #1:

First serious proposal came from Merkle and Hellman.

Their plan involves finding plaintext values that produce a first intermediate value of A = 0 and then using the meet-in-the-middle attack to determine the two keys.

The level of effort is 2⁵⁶, but the technique requires 2⁵⁶ chosen plaintext-ciphertext pairs, a number unlikely to be provided by the holder of the keys.

Attack #2:

This method is an improvement over the chosen-plaintext approach but requires more effort.

The attack is based on the observation that if we know A and C, then the problem reduces to that of an attack on double DES.

Of course, the attacker does not know A, even if P and C are known, as long as the two keys are unknown.

However, the attacker can choose a potential value of A and then try to find a known (P, C) pair that produces A. The attack proceeds as follows.

Obtain n (P, C) pairs. This is the known plaintext. Place these in a Table 1 sorted on the values of P.

Pick an arbitrary value a for A, and create a second table with entries defined in the following fashion. For each of the 2⁵⁶ possible keys K₁ = i, calculate the plaintext value P_i that produces a.

For each P_i that matches an entry in Table 1, create an entry in Table 2 consisting of the K₁ value and the value of B that is produced for the (P, C) pair from Table 1, assuming that value of K₁.

At the end of this step, sort Table 2 on the values of B.

We now have a number of candidate values of K₁ in Table 2 and are in a position to search for a value of K₂. For each of the 2⁵⁶ possible keys K₂ = j, calculate the second intermediate value for our chosen value of a.

At each step, look up B_j in Table 2. If there is a match, then the corresponding key i from Table 2 plus this value of j are candidate values for the unknown keys (K₁, K₂). Why? Because we have found a pair of keys (i, j) that produce a known (P, C) pair.

Test each candidate pair of keys (i, j) on a few other plaintext-ciphertext pairs. If a pair of keys produces the desired ciphertext, the task is complete. If no pair succeeds, repeat from step 1 with a new value of a.

Block Cipher Modes of Operation:

Electronic Codebook:

The ECB method is ideal for a short amount of data, such as an encryption key. Thus, if you want to transmit a DES key securely, ECB is the appropriate mode to use.

The most significant characteristic of ECB is that the same b-bit block of plaintext, if it appears more than once in the message, always produces the same ciphertext.

For lengthy messages, the ECB mode may not be secure. If the message is highly structured, it may be possible for a cryptanalyst to exploit these regularities.

Cipher Block Chaining Mode:

We would like to invent a technique in which the same plaintext block, if repeated, produces different ciphertext blocks. A simple way to satisfy this requirement is the cipher block chaining (CBC) mode.

To produce the first block of ciphertext, an initialization vector (IV) is XORed with the first block of plaintext. On decryption, the IV is XORed with the output of the decryption algorithm to recover the first block of plaintext. The IV is a data block that is that same size as the cipher block.

Cipher Feedback Mode:

It is possible to convert DES into a stream cipher, using either the cipher feedback (CFB) or the output feedback mode.

A stream cipher eliminates the need to pad a message to be an integral number of blocks.

It also can operate in real time. Thus, if a character stream is being transmitted, each character can be encrypted and transmitted immediately using a character-oriented stream cipher.

One desirable property of a stream cipher is that the ciphertext be of the same length as the plaintext.

Output Feedback Mode:

The output feedback (OFB) mode is similar in structure to that of CFB. As can be seen, it is the output of the encryption function that is fed back to the shift register in OFB, whereas in CFB the ciphertext unit is fed back to the shift register.

One advantage of the OFB method is that bit errors in transmission do not propagate.

The disadvantage of OFB is that it is more vulnerable to a message stream modification attack than is CFB.

Counter Mode:

A counter, equal to the plaintext block size is used.

For encryption, the counter is encrypted and then XORed with the plaintext block to produce the ciphertext block; there is no chaining.

Advantages of CTR Mode:

Hardware efficiency:

CTR mode can be done in parallel on multiple blocks of plaintext or ciphertext.

For the chaining modes, the algorithm must complete the computation on one block before beginning on the next block.

Software efficiency.

Prepossessing:

There’s an ability to prepare counter before plaintext enters the encryption/decryption process.

Random Access:

The i^th block of plaintext or ciphertext can be processed in random-access fashion.

Provable security:

It can be shown that CTR is at least as secure as the other modes discussed in this article.

Simplicity:

Unlike ECB and CBC modes, CTR mode requires only the implementation of the encryption algorithm and not the decryption algorithm.

Stream Ciphers and RC4

Stream Cipher Structure:

The output of the generator, called a keystream, is combined one byte at a time with the plaintext stream using the bitwise exclusive-OR (XOR) operation.

The stream cipher is similar to the one-time pad. The difference is that a one-time pad uses a genuine random number stream, whereas a stream cipher uses a pseudorandom number stream.

Important design considerations for a stream cipher:

The encryption sequence should have a large period (generator period).

The keystream should approximate the properties of a true random number stream as close as possible.

To guard against brute-force attacks, the key needs to be sufficiently long (128-bits key length is desirable).

The primary advantage of a stream cipher is that stream ciphers are almost always faster and use far less code than do block ciphers.

For applications that require encryption/decryption of a stream of data, such as over a data communications channel or a browser/Web link, a stream cipher might be the better alternative.

For applications that deal with blocks of data, such as file transfer, e-mail, and database, block ciphers may be more appropriate.

The RC4 Algorithm

It is a variable key-size stream cipher with byte-oriented operations.

The algorithm is based on the use of a random permutation. Analysis shows that the period of the cipher is overwhelmingly likely to be greater than 10¹⁰⁰.

RC4 is used in the SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) standards that have been defined for communication between Web browsers and servers.

It is also used in the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) protocol and the newer WiFi Protected Access (WPA) protocol that are part of the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard.

Working Mechanism of RC4:

A variable-length key of from 1 to 256 bytes (8 to 2048 bits) is used to initialize a 256-byte state vector S, with elements S[0], S[1],…, S[255]. At all times. S contains a permutation of all 8-bit numbers from 0 through 255.

For encryption and decryption, a byte k (see Figure 6.8) is generated from S by selecting one of the 255 entries in a systematic fashion.

As each value of k is generated, the entries in S are once again permuted.

Once the S vector is initialized, the input key is no longer used. Stream generation involves cycling through all the elements of S[i], and, for each S[i], swapping S[i] with another byte in S according to a scheme dictated by the current configuration of S.

A number of papers have been published analyzing methods of attacking RC4 [e.g., [KNUD98], [MIST98], [FLUH00], [MANT01]). None of these approaches is practical against RC4 with a reasonable key length, such as 128 bits. A more serious problem is reported in [FLUH01]. The authors demonstrate that the WEP protocol, intended to provide confidentiality on 802.11 wireless LAN networks, is vulnerable to a particular attack approach. In essence, the problem is not with RC4 itself but the way in which keys are generated for use as input to RC4. This particular problem does not appear to be relevant to other applications using RC4 and can be remedied in WEP by changing the way in which keys are generated. This problem points out the difficulty in designing a secure system that involves both cryptographic functions and protocols that make use of them.

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Advanced Encryption Standards

April 10, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

AES is a block cipher intended to replace DES for commercial applications. It uses a 128-bit block size and a key size of 128, 192, or 256 bits.

AES does not use a Feistel structure. Instead, each full round consists of four separate functions:

Byte substitution.

Permutation.

Arithmetic operations over a finite field.

XOR with a key.

Advantages of 3DES:

Its 168-bit key length overcomes the vulnerability to brute-force attack of DES.

Scrutiny on its encryption algorithm.

Disadvantages of 3DES:

No support for efficient code and have slow performance.

Uses 64-key bit size. For reasons of both efficiency and security, a larger block size is desirable.

Initial criteria of evaluating candidate security algorithms:

Security:

Refers to effort required to cryptanalyze an algorithm.

Aspects:

Actual security: compared to other algorithms (at the same key and block size).

Randomness: the extent of randomness in the algorithm output.

Soundness: of the math basis of the algorithm’s security.

Cost:

The algorithm should have high computational efficiency; so as to be usable is high speed applications.

Aspects:

Licensing requirements: the used sub-algorithms should be world-wide and non-exclusive.

Computational efficiency: speed of the algorithm from software hardware wise.

Memory requirements: memory required to implement the algorithm from software and hardware wise.

Algorithm and implementation characteristics:

Flexibility: flexibility can be evaluated from following:

Ability to accommodate additional key and block sizes.

Range platforms that the algorithm is acceptable.

The algorithm can be implemented as stream cipher, message authentication code generator, pseudorandom number generator, hashing algorithm etc…

Hardwar and software suitability: ability to be implemented efficiency on hardware and software.

Simplicity: relative simplicity of its design.

Advanced criteria of evaluating candidate algorithms:

General security:

Strength duo to known cryptographic (from math perspective) attacks such as differential and linear cryptanalysis.

Software implementations:

Execution speed, performance across variety of platforms, variation of speed with key-size.

Restricted-space environments.

Hardware implementations:

The amount of required hardware to implement the algorithm efficiency.

Attacks on implementations:

Strength duo to physical attacks during algorithm execution to gather information about quantities such as keys.

Examples of such algorithms are:

Time attacks.

Power analysis:

Observation that the power consumed by a smart card at any particular time during the cryptographic operation is related to the instruction being executed and to the data being processed.

For example, multiplication consumes more power than addition.

Writing 1s consumes more power than writing 0s.

Encryption versus decryption:

If the encryption and decryption differs, then extra space is needed for decryption.

Key agility:

Ability to change keys quickly and with a minimum of resources.

Other versatility and flexibility:

Parameter flexibility: ease of support for another key and block sizes and ease of increasing the number of rounds in order to cope with newly discovered attacks.

Implementation flexibility: possibility of optimizing cipher elements for particular environments.

Potential for instruction-level parallelism.

The AES Cipher

Block and key lengths can be independently specified to be: 128 (most common used), 192 or 256 bits.

Characteristics of AES Cipher:

Resistance against all known attacks.

Speed and code compactness over wide range of platforms.

Design simplicity.

Notes about AES structure

Not Feistel cipher and entire process data block in parallel during each round.

The provided key is expanded into an array of forty-four 32-bit words, w[i]. Four distinct words (128 bits) serve as a round key for each round.

Four different stages are used, one of permutation and three of substitution:

Substitute bytes: Uses an S-box to perform a byte-by-byte substitution of the block.

ShiftRows: A simple permutation.

MixColumns: A substitution that makes use of arithmetic GF(2⁸)

AddRoundKey: A simple bitwise XOR of the current block with a portion of the expanded key.

Cipher Stages:

Initial round with AddRoundKeyStage

Followed by 9 rounds each one includes four stages.

Tenth round that uses three stages only.

Each stage is easily reversible.

The decryption algorithm is not similar to the encryption algorithm. This is a consequence of the particular structures of AES.

AES uses arithmetic in the finite field of GF(2⁸), with irreversible polynomial

The MixColumns step along with the ShiftRows step is the primary source of diffusion in Rijndael cipher.

The expanded key can be seen as an array of 32-bit words (columns) numbered from 0 to 43.

For details about AES working mechanism see this video.

One of the prerequisites of the MixColumn stage is to know how to apply multiplication in arithmetic field GF(2⁸).

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Finite Fields

April 9, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

A field is a set of elements on which two arithmetic operations (addition and multiplication) have been defined and which has the properties of ordinary arithmetic, such as closure, associativity, commutativity, distributivity, and having both additive and multiplicative inverses

Modular arithmetic is a kind of integer arithmetic that reduces all numbers to one of a fixed set [0…n – 1] for some number n.

Any integer outside this range is reduced to one in this range by taking the remainder after division by n.

The greatest common divisor of two integers is the largest positive integer that exactly divides both integers.

A finite field is simply a field with a finite number of elements. It can be shown that the order of a finite field (number of elements in the field) must be a power of a prime pⁿ, where n is a positive integer.

Finite fields of order p can be defined using arithmetic mod p.

Finite fields of order pⁿ, for n > 1 can be defined using arithmetic over polynomials.

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and elliptic curve cryptography relies heavily on properties of finite fields.

Groups, rings, and fields are the fundamental elements of a branch of mathematics known as abstract algebra, or modern algebra.

In abstract algebra, we are concerned with sets on whose elements we can operate algebraically; that is, we can combine two elements of the set, perhaps in several ways, to obtain a third element of the set.

Groups:

A group G, is a set of elements with a binary operation, denoted by ·, that associates to each ordered pair (a, b) of elements in G an element (a · b) in G, such that the following axioms are obeyed:

(A1)Closure: If a and b belong to G, then a · b is also in G.

(A2)Associative: a · (b · c) = (a · b) · c for all a, b, c in G.

(A3)Identity element: There is an element e in G such that a · e = e · a = a for all a in G.

(A3)Inverse element: For each a in G there is an element a’ in G such that a · a’ = a’ · a = e

If a group has a finite number of elements, it is referred to as a finite group, and the order of the group is equal to the number of elements in the group. Otherwise, the group is an infinite group.

A group is said to be (A5)abelian if it satisfies the following additional condition:

Commutative: a · b = b · a for all a, b in G.

A group G is cyclic if every element of G is a power a^k (k is an integer) of a fixed element a G. The element a is said to generate the group G, or to be a generator of G.

A cyclic group is always abelian, and may be finite or infinite.

The additive group of integers is an infinite cyclic group generated by the element 1. In this case, powers are interpreted additively, so that n is the n^th power of 1.

Rings:

A ring R, sometimes denoted by {R, +, x}, is a set of elements with two binary operations, called addition and multiplication, such that for all a, b, c in R the following axioms are obeyed:

R is an abelian group with respect to addition; that is, R satisfies axioms A1 through A5. For the case of an additive group, we denote the identity element as 0 and the inverse of a as a.

(M1)Closure under multiplication: If a and b belong to R, then ab is also in R.

(M2)Associativity of multiplication: a(bc) = (ab)c for all a, b, c in R

(M3)Distributive laws:

a(b + c) = ab + ac for all a, b, c in R.

(a + b)c = ac + bc for all a, b, c in R.

A ring is said to be commutative if it satisfies the following additional condition:

(M4)Commutativity of multiplication: ab = ba for all a, b in R

Integral domain, is a commutative ring that obeys the following axioms:

(M5)Multiplicative identity: There is an element 1 in R such that a1 = 1a = a for all a in R

(M6)No zero divisors: If a, b in R and ab = 0, then either a = 0 or b = 0.

Field:

A field F, sometimes denoted by {F, +, x}, is a set of elements with two binary operations, called addition and multiplication, such that for all a, b, c in F the following axioms are obeyed:

F is an integral domain; that is, F satisfies axioms A1 through A5 and M1 through M6.

(M7)Multiplicative inverse: For each a in F, except 0, there is an element a^-1 in F such that aa^-1 = (a^-1)a = 1.

Division is defined with the following rule: a/b = a(b^-1).

101-Modular Arithmetic Equation.

Remainder r is often referred to as a residue.

Two integers a and b are said to be congruent modulo n, if (a mod n) = (b mod n). This is written as a b (mod n)

We say that a nonzero b divides a if a = mb (b|a) for some m. That is, b divides a if there is no remainder on division. We say that b is a devisor of a.

The following relations hold:

If a|1, then a = ±1.

If a|b and b|a, then a = ±b

Any b 0 divides 0.

If b|g and b|h, then b|(mg + nh) for arbitrary integers m and n.

Properties of
congruent modulo:

a b (mod n) if n|(a – b).

a b (mod n) implies b a (mod n).

a b (mod n) and b c (mod n) imply a c (mod n).

Properties of modulo arithmetic:

[(a mod n) (+/-/x) (b mod n)] mod n = (a (+/-/x) b) mod n.

103-Finding result of modulus with exponentiation.

104-Arithmetic modulo table

Additive Inverse (Negative) of integer x is y such that (x + y) mod n = 0.

Multiplicative Inverse (reciprocal) of integer x is y such that (x X y) mod n = 1.

Each integer in Z_n (Z_n = {0, 1, 2, …, (n-1)}) represents a residue class. We can label the residue classes modulo n as [0], [1], [2],…,[n – 1]

Of all the integers in a residue class, the smallest nonnegative integer is the one usually used to represent the residue class. Finding the smallest nonnegative integer to which k is congruent modulo n is called reducing k modulo n.

105-Differences between modular arithmetic and ordinary arithmetic.

Two integers are relatively prime if their only common positive integer factor is 1.

Satisfying relatively prime condition will hold that there’ll be no many-to-one mapping to residues.

The positive integer c is said to be the greatest common divisor of a and b if:

c is a divisor of a and of b.

Any divisor of a and b is a divisor of c.

108-Euclidian Algorithm for finding GCD.

It can be shown that the order of a finite field (number of elements in the field) must be a power of a prime pⁿ, where n is a positive integer.

The finite field of order pⁿ is generally written GF(pⁿ); stands for Galois field.

For each there exists a such that

111-Extended Euclidian Algorithm for finding GCD and Multiplicative Inverse.

Classes of polynomial arithmetic:

Ordinary polynomial arithmetic, using the basic rules of algebra.

Polynomial arithmetic in which the arithmetic on the coefficients is performed modulo p; that is, the coefficients are in GF(p).

Polynomial arithmetic in which the coefficients are in GF(p), and the polynomials are defined modulo a polynomial m(x) whose highest power is some integer n.

Ordinary Polynomial Arithmetic:

113-Form.

Where the a_i are elements of some designated set of numbers S, called the coefficient set.

A zeroth-degree polynomial is called a constant polynomial and is simply an element of the set of coefficients.

An nth-degree polynomial is said to be a monic polynomial if a_n = 1.

Polynomial Arithmetic with Coefficients in Zp:

Polynomial ring is
polynomial in which the coefficients are elements of some field F.

115-divison under this type of polynomials.

Equivalently, we can say that g(x) is a factor of f(x) or g(x) is a divisor of f(x) if g(x)|f(x).

A polynomial f(x) over a field F is called irreducible if and only if:

f(x) cannot be expressed as a product of two polynomials, both over F.

Both of degrees lower than that of f(x).

By analogy to integers, an irreducible polynomial is also called a prime polynomial.

117-Steps to find GCD between 2 arithmetic polynomials.

118-Example of finding GCD between 2 arithmetic polynomials.

For convenience and for implementation efficiency, we would like to work with integers that fit exactly into a given number of bits, with no wasted bit patterns. That is, we wish to work with integers in the range 0 through 2ⁿ 1, which fit into an n-bit word. (Illustrative example page # 119).

Modular Polynomial Arithmetic (MPA):

Definition of MPA:

Arithmetic follows the ordinary rules of polynomial arithmetic.

Arithmetic on coefficients in performed modulo p.

If multiplication results in a polynomial of degree than n – 1, then the polynomial is reduced modulo some irreducible polynomial m(x) of degree n. This is done by dividing on m(x) and keep the remainder

The AES uses arithmetic in the finite field of GF(2⁸) with the irreducible polynomial

All finite fields of a given order are isomorphic; that’s, any two finite field structures of a given order have the same structure, but the representation, or labels, of the elements maybe different.

Extended Euclidian algorithm can be adapted to find the greatest common divisor of two polynomials.

Every polynomial in GF(2ⁿ) can be represented by an n-bit number.

Addition (subtraction) between two polynomials in GF(2ⁿ) corresponds to a bitwise XOR operation.

Questions:

What’s closure?

What are differences between associativity, commutativity?

Finite fields of order p can be defined using arithmetic mod p?

Finite fields of order pⁿ, for n > 1 can be defined using arithmetic over polynomials.

98-Why S_n is not abelian?

What’s meant by 2 binary operations?! And what’s the difference between 1 and 2 binary operations?

In essence, a field is a set in which we can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division without leaving the set.

What’s meant by: without leaving the set”?

Familiar examples of fields are the rational numbers, the real numbers, and the complex numbers. Note that the set of all integers is not a field, because not every element of the set has a multiplicative inverse; in fact, only the elements 1 and -1 have multiplicative inverses in the integers.

How only 1 and -1 have multiplicative inverse?! Also, 2 * ½ = 1.

101- (q + 1)n > a what’s the usefulness of this condition?

Understanding properties of congruent modulo.

105-explaining reducing k modulo n.

What are differences between modular arithmetic and ordinary arithmetic?

106-strange reason of not accepting result of modulo arithmetic.

108-Proof of Euclidian Algorithm.

It can be shown that the order of a finite field (number of elements in the field) must be a power of a prime pⁿ, where n is a positive integer. Why it’s must?

Equations in page 112.

111-How to calculate multiplicative inverse?

Examples of fields include the real numbers, rational numbers, and Z_p for p prime. Note that the set of all integers is not a field and does not support polynomial division. How?!

115-Thus, division is not exact over the set of integers. Why?!

117-why f(x) is reducible?

120-Explanation of example.

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Classical Encryption Techniques

March 25, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

Symmetric encryption is a form of cryptosystem in which encryption and decryption are performed using the same key. It is also known as conventional encryption.

The two types of attack on an encryption algorithm are:

Cryptanalysis:

Based on properties of the encryption algorithm.

Some knowledge of the general characteristics of the plaintext or even some sample plaintext-ciphertext pairs.

Brute-force: involves trying all possible keys.

Traditional symmetric ciphers use:

Substitution techniques: map plaintext elements (characters, bits) into ciphertext elements.

Transposition techniques: systematically transpose the positions of plaintext elements.

Rotor machines are sophisticated precomputer hardware devices that use substitution techniques.

Steganography is a technique for hiding a secret message within a larger one in such a way that others cannot discern the presence or contents of the hidden message.

Cryptanalysis are
techniques used for deciphering a message without any knowledge of the enciphering details.

Requirements for secure use of conventional encryption:

We need a strong encryption algorithm.

The opponent should be unable to decrypt ciphertext or discover the key even if he or she is in possession of a number of ciphertexts together with the plaintext that produced each ciphertext.

Sender and receiver must have obtained copies of the secret key in a secure fashion and must keep the key secure.

Cryptographic systems are characterized along three independent dimensions:

The type of operations used for transforming plaintext to ciphertext (Substitution, Transposition).

Product systems, involve multiple stages of substitutions and transpositions.

The number of keys used.

If both sender and receiver use the same key, the system is referred to as symmetric, single-key, secret-key, or conventional encryption.

If the sender and receiver use different keys, the system is referred to as asymmetric, two-key, or public-key encryption.

The way in which the plaintext is processed.

Stream Cipher: symmetric encryption algorithm in which ciphertext output is produced bit-by-bit or byte-by-byte from a stream of plaintext input.

Block Cipher symmetric encryption algorithm in which a block of plaintext bits (typically 64 or 128) is transformed as a whole into a ciphertext block of the same length

Types of attacks on encrypted messages:

Ciphertext only:

Encryption algorithm.

Ciphertext.

Known plaintext:

Encryption algorithm.

Ciphertext.

One or more plaintext-ciphertext pairs formed with the secret key.

Chosen plaintext:

Encryption algorithm.

Ciphertext.

Plaintext message chosen by cryptanalyst, together with its corresponding ciphertext generated with the secret key.

Chosen ciphertext.

Encryption algorithm.

Ciphertext.

Purported ciphertext chosen by cryptanalyst, together with its corresponding decrypted plaintext generated with the secret key.

Chosen text:

Encryption algorithm.

Ciphertext.

Plaintext message chosen by cryptanalyst, together with its corresponding ciphertext generated with the secret key.

Purported ciphertext chosen by cryptanalyst, together with its corresponding decrypted plaintext generated with the secret key.

Generally, an encryption algorithm is designed to withstand a known-plaintext attack.

Encryption scheme types:

Unconditionally secure:

If the ciphertext generated by the scheme does not contain enough information to determine uniquely the corresponding plaintext, no matter how much ciphertext is available.

Conditionally secure.

All forms of cryptanalysis for symmetric encryption schemes are designed to exploit the fact that traces of structure or pattern in the plaintext may survive encryption and be discernible in the ciphertext.

Cryptanalysis for public-key schemes proceeds from a fundamentally different premise, namely, that the mathematical properties of the pair of keys may make it possible for one of the two keys to be deduced from the other.

Well encryption algorithm characteristics:

The cost of breaking the cipher exceeds the value of the encrypted information.

The time required to break the cipher exceeds the useful lifetime of the information.

Unfortunately, there is no encryption algorithm that is unconditionally secure.

Substitution Techniques:

Caesar Cipher.

Monoalphabetic Ciphers.

Playfair Ciphers.

The Playfair cipher is a great advance over simple monoalphabetic ciphers. For one thing, whereas there are only 26 letters, there are 26 x 26 = 676 digrams, so that identification of individual digrams is more difficult. Furthermore, the relative frequencies of individual letters exhibit a much greater range than that of digrams, making frequency analysis much more difficult. For these reasons, the Playfair cipher was for a long time considered unbreakable. It was used as the standard field system by the British Army in World War I and still enjoyed considerable use by the U.S. Army and other Allied forces during World War II

Hill Cipher.

Polyalphabetic Ciphers.

Features of polyalphabetic ciphers:

A set of related monoalphabetic substitution rules is used.

A key determines which particular rule is chosen for a given transformation.

Vigenère cipher.

47-How to know that the plaintext was encrypted using monoalphabetic or Vigenère cipher.

Types of
Polyalphabetic Ciphers:

Auto-Key: completing key length with first characters from plaintext.

Repeating Key: repeat key to the length of plaintext.

One-Time Pad.

Why One-Time Pad is completely secure?

Randomness in generating key.

Production of random output that bears no statistical relationship to the plaintext.

Why One-Time Pad is not a practical solution?

There is the practical problem of making large quantities of random keys.

The problem of key distribution and protection.

Because of these difficulties, the one-time pad is of limited utility, and is useful primarily for low-bandwidth channels requiring very high security.

Transposition Techniques:

Rail Fence Cipher.

Rectangular Cipher.

Multiple Stages of Encryption:

Rotor Machines.

The significance of the rotor machine today is that it points the way to the most widely used cipher ever: the Data Encryption Standard (DES).

Steganography Techniques:

Character marking:

Selected letters of printed or typewritten text are overwritten in pencil. The marks are ordinarily not visible unless the paper is held at an angle to bright light.

Invisible ink:

A number of substances can be used for writing but leave no visible trace until heat or some chemical is applied to the paper.

Pin punctures:

Small pin punctures on selected letters are ordinarily not visible unless the paper is held up in front of a light.

Typewriter correction ribbon:

Used between lines typed with a black ribbon, the results of typing with the correction tape are visible only under a strong light.

Questions:

What is meant by “precomputer”?

ما قبل عصر الحاسوب

What’s meant by “digrams”?

Reasons for preferring Playfair Cipher.

Encryption/Decryption of algorithms should be summarized in points.

53-First paragraph.

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Introduction to Cryptography and Computer Security

March 25, 2010March 25, 2010 Ogail Cryptography and Network Security

Cryptology: is the study of techniques for ensuring the secrecy and/or authenticity of information. Two main branches of Cryptology are:

Cryptography: This is the study of the design of such techniques.

Cryptanalysis: This deals with defeating such techniques, to recover information or forging (تزوير) information that will be accepted as authentic.

Network Security: This area covers the use of cryptographic algorithms in network protocols and network applications.

Computer Security: area of securing computers against intruders (e.g. hackers) and malicious software (e.g. viruses).

Security Attack is any action that compromises the security of information. It’s classified into:

Passive Attack: attempts to make use of information from the system without modification.

Examples: eavesdropping and monitoring of transmissions.

Passive attack types:

Release message contents: Learning contents of information sent between two parties.

Traffic analysis:

Suppose that the sent message is encrypted so, that opponents, even if they captured the message could not extract information from it.

Observing the encrypted message to analyze and guess about the encryption pattern is called traffic analysis.

Why passive attacks are very difficult to detect?

Dealing with passive attacks is on prevention not detection.

Active Attack: attempts to modify system resources or effect their operation.

Active attacks types:

Masquerade: happens when an entity pretends to be different entity.

Example: obtaining extra privileges for few privileged users.

Replay: involves passive capturing of data unit and its subsequent retransmission to produce an unauthorized effect.

Modification of messages.

Denial of services: prevents or inhibits the normal use or management of communication facilities.

Example: suppression of messages, disruption of entire network

Active attacks are easy to detect.

Here we are concerned with detection and recovering of active attacks.

Security mechanism is a process that is designed to detect, prevent or recover from a security attack.

Security service is a processing or communication service that enhances the security of data processing systems and the information transfers of an organization. Services usually use one or more security mechanism to provide the service.

Threat is a potential for violation of security which exists when an action that could breach security and cause harm.

Attack is an intelligent threat; that is an intelligent action that is a deliberate to evade security services and violate the security policy of a system.

Difference between internet and Internet!

Major requirements for security services:

Confidentiality.

Authentication.

Nonrepudiation.

Integrity.

Why Internetwork security is both complex and fascinating?

Complexity of meeting security services.

Considering the potential attacks on used algorithms.

Hardness of picking best suit algorithm for current situation because there is no general one.

Designing various security mechanisms and decide where to use them from physical (e.g. at what points in a network are certain security mechanisms are needed) and logical manner (e.g. what layer of an architecture such as TCP/IP should mechanisms be placed).

Limitations and constraints sometimes make the used algorithm meaningless.

IP spoofing, is about creating packets with false IP addresses and exploit applications that use authentication based on IP

Security service is a processing or communication service that is provided by a system to give a specific kind of protection to system resources.

Security Services:

Authentication: The assurance that the communicating entity is the one that it claims to be.

Peer Entity Authentication: provide confidence in the identity of the entities connected.

Data Origin Authentication: In a connectionless transfer, provides assurance that the source of received data is as claimed.

Access Control: Prevention of unauthorized use of a resource

Service controls who can have access to a resource.

Under what conditions access can occur.

What those accessing the resource are allowed to do?

Data Confidentiality: protection of data from unauthorized disclosure (passive attacks).

Connection Confidentiality: protection of all user data on a connection.

Connectionless Confidentiality: protection of all user data in single data block.

Selective Field Confidentiality: protection of selected fields within the user data on a connection or in a single data block

Traffic Flow Confidentiality: protection of the information that might be derived from observation of traffic flows.

Data Integrity: assurance that data received are exactly as sent by an authorized entity (i.e. contain no modification, insertion, deletion or replay).

Connection Integrity with Recovery: provides integrity for all user data on a connection and detects any violations with a recovery attempted.

Connection Integrity without Recovery: as above without recovery.

Selective Field Connection Integrity.

Connectionless Integrity: as first type but with limited replay detection on connectionless data block.

Selective Field Connectionless Integrity.

Nonrepudiation: provides protection against denial by one of the entities involved in the communication.

Nonrepudiation, Origin: proof that the message was sent by the specified party.

Nonrepudiation, Destination: proof that the message was received by the specified party.

Reversible encipherment mechanism is an encryption algorithm that allows data to be encrypted and decrypted.

Irreversible encipherment mechanism includes hash algorithms and message authentication codes.

Security Mechanisms:

Specific Security Mechanisms:

Involved into protocol layer in order to provide some of the OSI security services.

Encipherment:

The use of math algorithms to transform data into a form that is not readily intelligible.

Digital Signature:

Data appended to cryptographic transformation of a data unit that allows a recipient of the data unit to prove the source and integrity of it.

Access Control.

Data Integrity.

Authentication Exchange.

Traffic Padding:

Insertion of bits into gaps in a data stream to frustrate traffic analysis attempt.

Routing Control:

Enables selection for particular physically secure routes for certain data and allows routing changes especially when a breach of security is suspected.

Notarization:

The use of a trusted third party to assure certain properties of a data exchange.

Pervasive Security Mechanisms:

Trusted Functionality.

Security Label.

Event Detection.

Security Audit Trail.

Security Recovery.

21-Relationship between security services and mechanisms.

All the techniques for providing security have two components:

Security-related transformation on the information to be sent (encrypted data).

Some secret information shared by two principals and it’s hoped, unknown to the opponent (key).

Four basic security tasks in designing security service:

Design an algorithm for performing the security related transformation.

Generate the secret information to be used with the algorithm.

Develop methods for the distribution and sharing of the secret information.

Specify a protocol to be used by the principals. That makes use of the security algorithm and the secret information to achieve a particular security service.

Programs can present two kinds of threats:

Information access threats:

intercept or modify data on behalf of users who should not have access to that data

Service threats:

Exploit service flaws in computer to inhibit use of legitimate users.

Questions:

I need an example of denial attack.

Physical denial attack: cutting of the network cable.

Logical denial attack: routing a message from receiver to another receiver.

Need to understand replay more.

Sending message more than one time.

Delaying message.

What’s meant by pervasive security mechanisms?

Basic and general mechanism for any security system.

Explanation of pervasive security mechanisms.

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