Chapter 11.

1
Internet Security Protocols and
Standards

Book Reading: Computer Security Principles and Practice (3ed),

2015, p.693-708

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 S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions)

• Security enhancement to MIME email

– Original Internet RFC822 email was text only
– MIME provided support for varying content types
and multi-part messages
– With encoding of binary data to textual form
– S/MIME added security enhancements
• Have S/MIME support (e.g., signed or
encryption) in many mail agents
– MS Outlook, Mozilla, Mac Mail etc
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MIME
Types

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 S/MIME Types

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 S/MIME Functions
• Enveloped data
– encrypted content and associated keys
• Signed data
– digital signature (hash code of msg encrypted with sender’s private
key)
– encrypted msg (random sym key later encrypted)
– can be view by recipient with S/MIME
• Clear-signed data
– cleartext message + encoded signed digest
• Signed & enveloped data
– nesting of signed & encrypted entities

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S/MIME Functions (Summary)

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S/MIME Process

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 S/MIME Cryptographic Algorithms

• Digital signatures: DSS & RSA

• Hash functions: SHA-1 & MD5
• Session key encryption: ElGamal & RSA
• Message encryption: AES, 3DES, etc
• MAC: HMAC with SHA-1
• Must map binary values to printable ASCII
– use radix-64 or base64 mapping

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 S/MIME Public Key Certificates

• S/MIME has effective encryption and

signature services
• But also need to manage public-keys
• S/MIME uses X.509 v3 certificates
• Each client has a list of trusted CA’s certs
• And own public/private key pairs & certs
• Certificates must be signed by trusted CA’s

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 DomainKeys Identified Mail
(DKIM)

• Specification of cryptographically signing e-

mail messages permitting a signing domain to
claim responsibility for a message in the mail
stream
• Proposed Internet Standard: DomainKeys
Identified Mail (DKIM) Signatures
• Widely adopted by a range of e-mail providers

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Internet E-Mail Architecture

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 DKIM Purpose

• Email authentication between hosts

• Transparent to the user
• Each email is signed by the private key of the
administrative domain
• To authenticate that the message comes from
the claimed administrative domain
• Mail delivery agent (MDA) does the
verification
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Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
Deployment

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 DKIM vs S/MIME
• S/MIME depends on both sender and receiver
users using S/MIME (many users however
don’t user it)
• S/MIME only signs the contents; email header
may be compromised
• DKIM is not implemented in client programs
(MUAs) – transparent to the users
• DKIM applies to all emails
• DKIM allows good senders to prove they sent
a particular message
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 Internet Security Protocols and
Standards

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the follow-up

Transport Layer Security (TLS)
– SSL: a general-purpose set of protocols; relies on
TCP
– Full generality as part of the a protocol suite
(transparent to apps)
– Embedded in a specific app (e.g., IE)
• IPv4 and IPv6 (IP level security)
• HTTPS
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 Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

• Transport layer security service

– originally developed by Netscape
– version 3 designed with public input
• Subsequently became Internet standard Transport Layer
Security (TLS)
• Use TCP to provide a reliable end-to-end service
• May be provided in underlying protocol suite transparent to
apps)
• Or embedded in specific packages (WWW browsers)

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 SSL Protocol Stack

SSL Rec Protocol provides

Basic sec services to the above
Protocols (eg, HTTP):

• HTTP provides xfer svc for Web

client/server interactions

• Other three protocols are used

in management of SSL

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 Two Important SSL
Concepts
• SSL session: an association
between a client and a server
created by the Handshake
protocol

• SSL connection: a transport

layer, peer-to-peer, short-live
connection
– Every connection is associated
with one session

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 SSL Record Protocol Services

• Confidentiality
– The Handshake Protocol defines a shared secret
key for symmetric encryption of SSL payloads
– AES, IDEA, RC2-40, DES-40, DES, 3DES, Fortezza,
RC4-40, RC4-128
– Message is compressed before encryption
• Message integrity
– the Handshake Protocol also defines a shared
secret key to form a msg authentication code
(MAC)
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SSL Record Protocol Operation

Steps:
1. Fragment the message
2. Compress (optional)
3. Compute and add MAC
4. Encrypt msg and MAC
5. Append SSL header

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SSL Record Protocol Operation

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SSL Record Protocol Operation

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 SSL Change Cipher Spec Protocol

• One of 3 SSL specific protocols which use the

SSL Record protocol
• A single message (a single byte with value 1)
• Causes pending state to become current (last
stage of a handshake)
• Hence updating the cipher suite in use
(collection of cryptographic algorithms
supported by both parties)
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 SSL Alert Protocol

• Conveys SSL-related alerts to peer entity

• Severity: warning or fatal
• Specific alert
• fatal: unexpected message, bad record mac,
decompression failure, handshake failure, illegal
parameter
• warning: close notify, no certificate, bad certificate,
unsupported certificate, certificate revoked, certificate
expired, certificate unknown
• Compressed & encrypted like all SSL data
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 SSL Handshake Protocol

• Allows server & client to:

– authenticate each other
– to negotiate encryption & MAC algorithms
– to negotiate cryptographic keys to be used
• Comprises a series of messages in phases
1. Establish Security Capabilities
2. Server Authentication and Key Exchange
3. Client Authentication and Key Exchange
4. Finish
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SSL Handshake Protocol

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SSL Handshake Protocol

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 SSL Handshake Protocol

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 IP Security (IPSec)

• various application security mechanisms

– eg. S/MIME, PGP, Kerberos, SSL/HTTPS
• security concerns cross protocol layers
• hence would like security implemented by the
network for all applications
• authentication & encryption security features
included in next-generation IPv6
• also usable in existing IPv4
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 IPSec

• general IP Security mechanisms

• provides
– authentication
– confidentiality
– key management
• applicable to use over LANs, across public &
private WANs, & for the Internet

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 IPSec Uses

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 Benefits of IPSec

• when implemented in a firewall/router, it

provides strong security to all traffic crossing
the perimeter
– no overhead of security-related processing
• is below transport layer, hence transparent to
applications
• can be transparent to end users; no need to
train users on sec mechanisms such as keys
• secures routing architecture
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 IP Security Architecture

• mandatory in IPv6, optional in IPv4

• have three main functions:
– Authentication Header (AH): auth only
– Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP): auth & encryption
– Key Exchange function: manual/auto exchange of
keys
• Example: VPNs want both auth and encryption
– hence usually use ESP
• specification is quite complex
– numerous RFC’s 2401/2402/2406/2408
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 Security Associations (SA)

• a one-way relationship between sender &

receiver that affords security for traffic flow
• defined by 3 parameters:
– Security Parameters Index (SPI): and index in AH
and ESP; tells receiver which SA to select
– IP Destination Address: destination endpoint of a
SA
– Security Protocol Identifier
• has a number of other parameters
– seq no, AH & EH info, lifetime etc
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 Authentication Header (AH)

• provides support for data integrity &

authentication of IP packets
– end system/router can authenticate user/app
– prevents address spoofing attacks by tracking
sequence numbers
• based on use of a MAC
– HMAC-MD5-96 or HMAC-SHA-1-96
• parties must share a secret key

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 Authentication Header

Type of the header following this header; size of the AH; for future use;
SA; increasing seq counter; authentication data, e.g., MAC or
integrity check value

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Encapsulating Security Payload
(ESP)

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 Key Management

• handles key generation & distribution

• typically need 2 pairs of keys
– 2 per direction for AH & ESP
• manual key management
– sysadmin manually configures every system
• automated key management
– automated system for on demand creation of keys
for SA’s in large systems
– has Oakley & ISAKMP elements
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 Summary

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) / Transport Layer

Security (TLS)
• IPv4 and IPv6 Security
• S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extension)

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