Data and Computer

Communications
Chapter 21 – Network Security

Eighth Edition
by William Stallings

Lecture slides by Lawrie Brown

 Network Security
To guard against the baneful influence exerted by
strangers is therefore an elementary dictate of savage
prudence. Hence before strangers are allowed to enter
a district, or at least before they are permitted to
mingle freely with the inhabitants, certain ceremonies
are often performed by the natives of the country for
the purpose of disarming the strangers of their magical
powers, or of disinfecting, so to speak, the tainted
atmosphere by which they are supposed to be
surrounded.
—The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer
 Security Requirements
 confidentiality - protect data content/access
 integrity - protect data accuracy
 availability - ensure timely service
 authenticity - protect data origin
 Passive Attacks
 eavesdropping on transmissions
 to obtain information
 release of possibly sensitive/confidential
message contents
 traffic analysis which monitors frequency and
length of messages to get info on senders
 difficult to detect
 can be prevented using encryption
 Active Attacks
 masquerade
 pretending to be a different entity
 replay
 modification of messages
 denial of service
 easy to detect
 detection may lead to deterrent
 hard to prevent
 focus on detection and recovery
Symmetric Encryption
 Requirements for Security
 strong encryption algorithm
 even known, unable to decrypt without key
 even if many plaintexts & ciphertexts available
 sender and receiver must obtain secret
key securely
 once key is known, all communication
using this key is readable
 Attacking Encryption
 cryptanalysis
 relay on nature of algorithm plus some knowledge of
general characteristics of plaintext
 attempt to deduce plaintext or key
 brute force
 try every possible key until plaintext is recovered
 rapidly becomes infeasible as key size increases
 56-bit key is not secure
 Block Ciphers
 most common symmetric algorithms
 process plain text in fixed block sizes
producing block of cipher text of equal size
 most important current block ciphers:
 Data Encryption Standard (DES)
 Advanced Encryption Standard
 Data Encryption Standard
 US standard
 64 bit plain text blocks
 56 bit key
 broken in 1998 by Electronic Frontier
Foundation
 special purpose US$250,000 machine
 with detailed published description
 less than three days
 DES now worthless
 Triple DEA
 ANSI X9.17 (1985)
 incorporated in DEA standard 1999
 uses 2 or 3 keys
 3 executions of DEA algorithm
 effective key length 112 or 168 bit
 slow
 block size (64 bit) now too small
 Advanced Encryption
Standard
 NIST issued call for proposals for an Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) in 1997
 security strength equal to or better than 3DES
 significantly improved efficiency
 symmetric block cipher with block length 128 bits
 key lengths 128, 192, and 256 bits
 evaluation include security, computational efficiency,
memory requirements, hardware and software
suitability, and flexibility
 AES issued as FIPS 197 in 2001
 AES Description
 assume key length 128 bits
 input a 128-bit block (square matrix of bytes)
 copied into state array, modified at each stage
 after final stage, state copied to output
 128-bit key (square matrix of bytes)
 expanded into array of 44 32-bit key schedule words
 byte ordering by column
 1st 4 bytes of 128-bit input occupy 1st column
 1st 4 bytes of expanded key occupy 1st column
 AES
Encryption
and
Decryption
AES Encryption Round
Location of Encryption
Devices
 Link Encryption
 each communication link equipped at both ends
 all traffic secure
 high level of security
 requires lots of encryption devices
 message must be decrypted at each switch to
read address (virtual circuit number)
 security vulnerable at switches
 particularly on public switched network
 End to End Encryption
 encryption done at ends of system
 data in encrypted form crosses network
unaltered
 destination shares key with source to decrypt
 host can only encrypt user data
 otherwise switching nodes could not read header or
route packet
 hence traffic pattern not secure

 solution is to use both link and end to end

 Key Distribution
 symmetric encryption needs key distribution
 protected for access by others
 changed frequently
 possibilities for key distribution
1. key selected by A and delivered to B
2. third party selects key and delivers to A and B
3. use old key to encrypt & transmit new key from A to B
4. use old key to transmit new key from third party to A
and B
Automatic Key Distribution
 Traffic Padding
 addresses concern about traffic analysis
 though link encryption reduces opportunity
 attacker can still assess traffic volume
 traffic padding produces ciphertext
continuously
 if no plaintext, sends random data
 makes traffic analysis impossible
 Message Authentication
 protection against active attacks with
 falsification of data
 falsification of source
 authentication allows receiver to verify that
message is authentic
 has not been altered
 is from claimed/authentic source
 timeliness
 Authentication Using
Symmetric Encryption
 assume sender & receiver only know key
 only sender could have encrypted
message for other party
 message must include one of:
 error detection code
 sequence number
 time stamp
 Authentication Without
Encryption
 authentication tag generated and appended to
each message
 message not encrypted
 useful when don’t want encryption because:
 messages broadcast to multiple destinations
• have one destination responsible for authentication
 one side heavily loaded
• encryption adds to workload
• can authenticate random messages
 programs authenticated without encryption can be
executed without decoding
Message Authentication Code
 generate authentication code based on shared
key and message
 common key shared between A and B
 if only sender and receiver know key and code
matches:
 receiver assured message has not altered
 receiver assured message is from alleged sender
 if message has sequence number, receiver assured
of proper sequence
 can use various algorithms, eg. DES
Message Authentication Code
 One Way Hash Function
 accepts variable size message and produces
fixed size tag (message digest)
 but without use of a secret key
 send digest with message
 in manner that validates authenticity
 advantages of authentication without encryption
 encryption is slow
 encryption hardware expensive
 encryption hardware optimized for large data sets
 algorithms covered by patents
 algorithms subject to export controls (from USA)
 Using
One
Way
Hash
Functions
 Secure Hash Functions
 produce a “fingerprint” of message/file
 must have the following properties:
 can be applied to any size data block
 produce fixed length output
 easy to compute
 not feasible to reverse
 not feasible to find two messages with the
same hash
 giving “weak” & “strong” hash functions
 also used for data integrity
 Secure Hash Algorithm
 Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)
 SHA defined in FIPS 180 (1993), 160-bit hash
 SHA-1 defined in FIPS 180-1 (1995)
 SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 defined in FIPS
180-2 (2002), 256/384/512-bit hashes
 SHA-1 being phased out, attack known
 SHA-512 processes input message
 with total size less than 2128 bits
 in 1024 bit blocks
 to produce a 512-bit digest
SHA-512 Hash Function
Public Key Encryption
 Public Key Encryption -
Operation
 public key is used for encryption
 private key is used for decryption
 infeasible to determine decryption key given
encryption key and algorithm
 steps:
 user generates pair of keys
 user places one key in public domain
 to send a message to user, encrypt using public key
 user decrypts using private key
Digital Signatures
 Digital Signatures
 sender encrypts message with private key
 receiver decrypts with senders public key
 authenticates sender
 does not give privacy of data
 must send both original and encrypted copies
 more efficient to sign authenticator
 a secure hash of message
 send signed hash with message
 RSA
Algorithm
RSA Example
 RSA Security
 brute force search of all keys
 given size of parameters is infeasible
 but larger keys do slow calculations
 factor n to recover p & q
 a hard problem
 well known 129 digit challenge broken in 1994
 key size of 1024-bits (300 digits) currently
secure for most apps
Public Key Certificates
 Secure Sockets Layer /
Transport Layer Security
 Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a widely used set
of general purpose security protocols
 use TCP to provide reliable end-to-end service
 Transport Layer Security (TLS) in RFC 2246
 two implementation options
 incorporated in underlying protocol suite
 embedded in specific packages
 minor differences between SSLv3 and TLS
SSL Architecture
SSL Connection and Session
 SSL Connection
 a transport connection providing suitable service
 are peer-to-peer, transient
 associated with one session
 multiple secure connections between parties possible
 SSL session
 an association between client and server
 created by Handshake Protocol
 define set of cryptographic security parameters
 to avoid negotiation of new security parameters for each
connection 
 multiple simultaneous sessions between parties possible
but not used in practice
 SSL Record Protocol
 provides confidentiality service
 used to encrypt SSL payload data
 provides message integrity service
 used to form message authentication code
(MAC)
 Handshake Protocol defines shared secret
keys for each of above services
SSL Record Protocol
Operation
 Record Protocol Header
 content type (8 bits)
 change_cipher_spec, alert, handshake, and
application_data
 no distinction between applications (eg. HTTP)
 content of application data opaque to SSL
 major version (8 bits) – SSL v3 is 3
 minor version (8 bits) - SSLv3 value is 0
 compressed length (16 bits)
 maximum 214 + 2048 
Change Cipher Spec Protocol
 uses Record Protocol
 single message
 single byte value 1
 cause pending state to be copied into
current state
 updates cipher suite to be used on this
connection
 Alert Protocol
 convey SSL-related alerts to peer entity
 alert messages compressed and encrypted
 two bytes
 first byte warning(1) or fatal(2)
• if fatal, SSL immediately terminates connection
• other connections on session may continue
• no new connections on session
 second byte indicates specific alert
• eg. fatal alert is an incorrect MAC
• eg. nonfatal alert is close_notify message
 Handshake Protocol
 most complex protocol
 allows parties to authenticate each other
 and negotiate encryption and MAC
algorithm and cryptographic keys
 series of messages with four phases:
 phase 1 Initiate Connection
 phase 2 Certificate/Key Exchange
 phase 3 Client Verifies Certificate, Parameters
 phase 4 Complete Secure Connection Setup
 SSL
Handshake
Protocol
 SSL Handshake Protocol
Parameters
 version
 random
 session ID
 ciphersuite
 compression method
 IPv4 and IPv6 Security
 IP Security extensions (IPSec) for IPv4/v6
 developed in response to observed weaknesses
 to stop unauthorized traffic monitoring, secure
user traffic with authentication & encryption
 example uses:
 secure branch office connectivity over Internet
 secure remote access over Internet
 extranet and intranet connectivity
 enhanced electronic commerce security
 can encrypt / authenticate all traffic at IP level
 IPSec Facilities
 Authentication Header (AH)
 authentication only service
 Encapsulated Security Payload (ESP)
 combined authentication & encryption service
 generally used for virtual private networks
 key exchange
 both manual and automated
 in RFC’s 2401,2402,2406,2408 (1998)
 Security Association (SA)
 one-way sender-receiver relationship
 for two-way, need two security associations
 three SA identification parameters
 security parameter index (in AH/ESP header)
 IP destination address (unicast only)
 security protocol identifier (AH or ESP)
 SA uniquely identified by dest address in
IPv4/6 header and SPI in AH/ESP header
 SA Parameters
 sequence number counter
 sequence counter overflow
 anti-reply windows
 AH information
 ESP information
 lifetime of this association
 IPSec protocol mode
 path MTU
Authentication Header
Encapsulating Security
Payload
 WiFi Protected Access
 WiFi Protected Access (WPA) extensions
to address 802.11 security issues
 based on current 802.11i standard
 addresses authentication, key management,
data transfer privacy
 uses authentication server and a more
robust protocol
 encryption with AES or 104-bit RC4
WiFi Protected Access
802.11i Access Control
 802.11i Privacy & Integrity
 have Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
(TKIP) or WPA-1
 s/w only changes to existing equipment
 using same RC4 algorithm as older WEP
 and Counter Mode CBC MAC (CCMP) or
WPA-2 using AES encryption
 both add message integrity code (MIC)
 generated using Michael algorithm
 Summary
 security requirements and attacks
 confidentiality using symmetric encryption
 message authentication & hash functions
 public-key encryption & digital signatures
 secure socket layer (SSL)
 IPSec
 WiFi Protected Access