Module 16:

Basic Integrity and

Authenticity

Pr C. Leghris
Networking Security v1.0
Module Objectives
Module Title: Basic Integrity and Authenticity

Module Objective: Explain how cryptography is used to ensure data integrity and authenticity.

Topic Title Topic Objective

Integrity and Authenticity Explain the role of cryptography in ensuring the integrity and authenticity of data.
Key Management Describe the components of key management.
Confidentiality Explain how cryptographic approaches enhance data confidentiality.
16.1 Integrity and Authenticity

3
Integrity and Authenticity
Secure Communications
▪ These are the four elements of secure communications:
• Data Integrity - Guarantees that the message was not altered. Any changes to data in transit will be
detected. Integrity is ensured by implementing either of the Secure Hash Algorithms (SHA-2 or SHA-
3). The MD5 message digest algorithm is still widely in use. However, it is inherently insecure and
creates vulnerabilities in a network. Note that MD5 should be avoided.
• Origin Authentication - Guarantees that the message is not a forgery and does actually come from
whom it states. Many modern networks ensure authentication with algorithms such as hash-based
message authentication code (HMAC).
• Data Confidentiality - Guarantees that only authorized users can read the message. If the message is
intercepted, it cannot be deciphered within a reasonable amount of time. Data confidentiality is
implemented using symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms.
• Data Non-Repudiation - Guarantees that the sender cannot repudiate, or refute, the validity of a
message sent. Nonrepudiation relies on the fact that only the sender has the unique characteristics
or signature for how that message is treated.
4
Integrity and Authenticity
Cryptographic Hash Functions
▪ Hashes are used to verify and ensure data integrity.
Hashing is based on a one-way mathematical function
that is relatively easy to compute, but significantly
harder to reverse ;
▪ As shown in the figure, a hash function takes a variable
block of binary data, called the message, and produces
a fixed-length, condensed representation, called the
hash. The resulting hash is also sometimes called the
message digest, digest, or digital fingerprint ;
▪ With hash functions, it is computationally infeasible for
two different sets of data to come up with the same
hash output. Cryptographic hash values are often called
“digital fingerprints”.
5
Integrity and Authenticity
Cryptographic Hash Operation

▪ Mathematically, the equation h= H(x) is used to explain how a hash algorithm operates. As
shown in the figure, a hash function H takes an input x and returns a fixed-size string hash
value h ;
▪ The example in the figure summarizes the mathematical process. A cryptographic hash
function should have the following properties :
• The input can be any length ;
• The output is always a fixed length ;
• H(x) is relatively easy to compute for any given x ;
• H(x) is one way and not reversible ;
• H(x) is collision free, meaning that two different
input values will result in different hash values.

6
Integrity and Authenticity
MD5 and SHA

▪ Hash functions are used to ensure the integrity of a message. They help ensure data has not
accidentally changed and that what was sent is indeed what was received ;
▪ There are four well-known hash functions:
• MD5 with 128-bit digest ;
• SHA-1 ;
• SHA-2 ;
• SHA-3.

▪ While hashing can be used to detect accidental changes, it cannot be used to guard against
deliberate changes that are made by a threat actor. Therefore, hashing is vulnerable to man-
in-the-middle attacks and does not provide security to transmitted data. To provide integrity
against man-in-the-middle attacks, origin authentication is also required.
7
Integrity and Authenticity
Origin Authentication
▪ To add origin authentication and integrity assurance,
use a keyed-hash message authentication code (HMAC).
HMAC uses an additional secret key as input to the hash
function ;
▪ As shown in the figure, an HMAC is calculated using any
cryptographic algorithm that combines a cryptographic
hash function with a secret key. Hash functions are the
basis of the protection mechanism of HMACs ;
▪ Only the sender and the receiver know the secret key,
and the output of the hash function now depends on
the input data and the secret key. Only parties who
have access to that secret key can compute the digest
of an HMAC function. This defeats man-in-the-middle
attacks and provides authentication of the data origin.
8
Integrity and Authenticity
Origin Authentication (Cont.)

▪ As shown in the figure, the sending

device inputs data (such as Terry
Smith’s pay of $100 and the secret
key) into the hashing algorithm and
calculates the fixed-length HMAC
digest ;
• This authenticated digest is then
attached to the message and sent to the
receiver.

9
Integrity and Authenticity
Origin Authentication (Cont.)

▪ In the figure, the receiving device

removes the digest from the message and
uses the plaintext message with its secret
key as input into the same hashing
function ;
• If the digest that is calculated by the
receiving device is equal to the digest that
was sent, the message has not been altered ;
• Additionally, the origin of the message is
authenticated because only the sender
possesses a copy of the shared secret key ;
▪ The HMAC function has ensured the
authenticity of the message.
10
Integrity and Authenticity
Origin Authentication (Cont.)
▪ The figure shows how HMACs are used by
Cisco routers that are configured to use
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing
authentication ;
▪ R1 is sending a link state update (LSU)
regarding a route to network 10.2.0.0/16 :
1. R1 calculates the hash value using the LSU
message and the secret key ;
2. The resulting hash value is sent with the LSU
to R2 ;
3. R2 calculates the hash value using the LSU and
its secret key. R2 accepts the update if the
hash values match. If they do not match, R2
discards the update. 11
Integrity and Authenticity
Lab - Hashing Things Out

▪ In this lab, you will complete the following objectives:

• Creating Hashes with OpenSSL

• Verifying Hashes

12
16.2 Key Management

13
Key Management
Characteristics of Key Management
▪ Key management is often considered the most difficult part of designing a cryptosystem;
▪ There are several essential characteristics of key management to consider.
Characteristic Description
Key Generation It was up to Caesar to choose the key of his cipher. The Vigenère cipher key is also chosen by the sender and receiver. In a
modern cryptographic system, key generation is usually automated and not left to the end user. The use of good random
number generators is needed to ensure that all keys are equally generated so that the attacker cannot predict which keys
are more likely to be used.
Key Verification Some keys are better than others. Almost all cryptographic algorithms have some weak keys that should not be used. With
the help of key verification procedures, weak keys can be identified and regenerated to provide a more secure encryption.
With the Caesar cipher, using a key of 0 or 25 does not encrypt the message, so it should not be used.
Key Exchange Key management procedures should provide a secure key exchange mechanism that allows secure agreement on the
keying material with the other party, probably over an untrusted medium.
Key Storage On a modern multi-user operating system that uses cryptography, a key can be stored in memory. This presents a possible
problem when that memory is swapped to the disk, because a Trojan horse program installed on the PC of a user could
then have access to the private keys of that user.
Key Lifetime Using short key lifetimes improves the security of legacy ciphers that are used on high-speed connections. In IPsec a 24-
hour lifetime is typical. However, changing the lifetime to 30 minutes improves the security of the algorithms.
14
Key Revocation Revocation notifies all interested parties that a certain key has been compromised and should no longer be used.
and Destruction Destruction erases old keys in a manner that prevents malicious attackers from recovering them.
Key Management
Key Length and Keyspace
▪ Two terms that are used to describe keys are :
• Key length - Also called the key size, this is the measure in bits. In this course, we will use the term key
length ;
• Keyspace - This is the number of possibilities that can be generated by a specific key length.
▪ As key length increases, the keyspace increases exponentially. The table displays the
characteristics of the AES encryption algorithm.
AES Characteristics Description Advanced Encryption Standard
Timeline Official standard since 2001
Type of Algorithm Symmetric
Key Size (in bits) 128, 192, and 256
Speed High
Time to Crack(assuming a computer 149 trillion years
could try 255 keys per second)
Resource Consumption Low 15
Key Management
The Keyspace
▪ The keyspace of an algorithm is the set of all possible key values. A key that has n bits
produces a keyspace that has 2n possible key values. By adding one bit to the key, the
keyspace is effectively doubled ;
▪ Almost every algorithm has some weak keys in its keyspace that enable an attacker to break
the encryption via a shortcut. Weak keys show the regularities in encryption. For instance,
DES has four keys for which encryption is the same as decryption. This means that if one of
these weak keys is used to encrypt plaintext, an attacker can use the weak key to decrypt the
ciphertext and reveal the plaintext ;
▪ The DES weak keys are those that produce 16 identical subkeys. This occurs when the key
bits are :
• Alternating ones and zeros (0101010101010101) ;
• Alternating F and E (FEFEFEFEFEFEFEFE) ;
• E0E0E0E0F1F1F1F1 ;
• 1F1F1F1F0E0E0E0E ; 16
Key Management
Types of Cryptographic Keys
▪ Current key lengths can easily make any attack attempt insignificant because it takes millions
or billions of years to complete the search when a sufficiently long key is used ;
▪ With modern algorithms that are trusted, the strength of protection depends solely on the
size of the key. Choose the key length so that it protects data confidentiality or integrity for an
adequate period of time. Data that is more sensitive and needs to be kept secret longer must
use longer keys.
Length of Protection Symmetric Key Asymmetric Key Digital Signature Hash
3 years 80 1248 160 160
10 years 96 1776 192 192
20 years 112 2432 224 224
30 years 128 3248 256 256
Protection against 256 15424 512 512
quantum computers
17
Key Management
Choice of Cryptographic Keys
▪ Performance is another issue that can influence the choice of a key length. An
administrator must find a good balance between the speed and protective strength of an
algorithm, because some algorithms, such as the Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA)
algorithm, run slowly due to large key lengths ;
▪ The estimated funding of the attacker should also affect the choice of key length ;
▪ The rule “the longer the key, the better” is valid, except for possible performance reasons.
Shorter keys equal faster processing but are less secure. Longer keys equal slower
processing but are more secure.

18
16.3 Confidentiality

19
Confidentiality
Data Confidentiality
▪ Symmetric encryption algorithms such as Data Encryption Standard (DES), 3DES, and
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) are based on the premise that each communicating
party knows the pre-shared key ;
▪ Data confidentiality can also be ensured using asymmetric algorithms, including Rivest,
Shamir, and Adleman (RSA) and the public key infrastructure (PKI) ;
▪ The figure highlights some differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption

20
Confidentiality
Symmetric Encryption
▪ Symmetric algorithms use the same pre-shared key to encrypt and decrypt data ;
• A pre-shared key, also called a secret key, is known by the sender and receiver before any encrypted
communications can take place ;
▪ In the figure, Alice and Bob have identical keys to a single padlock. These keys were
exchanged prior to sending any secret messages ;
▪ Alice writes a secret message and puts it in a small box that she locks using the padlock with her key.
She mails the box to Bob. The message is safely locked inside the box as the box makes its way
through the post office system ;
▪ When Bob receives the box, he uses his key to unlock the padlock and retrieve the message. Bob can
use the same box and padlock to send a secret reply back to Alice ;

21
Confidentiality
Symmetric Encryption (Cont.)
▪ Symmetric encryption algorithms are sometimes classified as either a block cipher or a
stream cipher ;
▪ Block ciphers transform a fixed-length block of plaintext into a common block of ciphertext
of 64 or 128 bits. Common block ciphers include DES with a 64-bit block size and AES with a
128-bit block size ;

▪ Stream ciphers encrypt plaintext one byte or one bit at a time. Stream ciphers are basically
a block cipher with a block size of one byte or bit. Stream ciphers are typically faster than
block ciphers because data is continuously encrypted ;

22
Confidentiality
Symmetric Encryption (Cont.)
▪ Well-known symmetric encryption algorithms are described in the table.
Symmetric Encryption Algorithms Description
Data Encryption Standard (DES) This is a legacy symmetric encryption algorithm. It uses a short key length that makes
it insecure for most current uses.
3DES (Triple DES) The is the replacement for DES and repeats the DES algorithm process three times. It
should be avoided if possible as it is scheduled to be retired in 2023. If implemented,
use very short key lifetimes.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) AES is a popular and recommended symmetric encryption algorithm. It offers
combinations of 128-, 192-, or 256-bit keys to encrypt 128, 192, or 256 bit-long data
blocks.
Software-Optimized Encryption Algorithm SEAL is a faster alternative symmetric encryption algorithm to AES. SEAL is a stream
(SEAL) cypher that uses a 160-bit encryption key and has a lower impact on the CPU
compared to other software-based algorithms.
Rivest ciphers (RC) series algorithms This algorithm was developed by Ron Rivest. Several variations have been developed,
but RC4 was the most prevalent in use. RC4 is a stream cipher that was used to secure
web traffic. It has been found to have multiple vulnerabilities which have made it
insecure. RC4 should not be used.
23
Confidentiality
Asymmetric Encryption
▪ Asymmetric algorithms, also called public-key algorithms, are designed so that the key that is
used for encryption is different from the key that is used for decryption, as shown in the
figure. The decryption key cannot, in any reasonable amount of time, be calculated from the
encryption key and vice versa ;
▪ Examples of protocols that use asymmetric key algorithms include:
• Internet Key Exchange (IKE) - This is a fundamental component of IPsec VPNs ;
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) - This is now implemented as IETF standard Transport Layer Security (TLS) ;
• Secure Shell (SSH) - This protocol provides a secure remote access connection to network devices ;
• Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) - This computer program provides cryptographic privacy and authentication.
It is often used to increase the security of email communications.

24
Confidentiality
Asymmetric Encryption (Cont.)
Asymmetric Encryption Key Length Description
Algorithm
Diffie-Hellman (DH) 512, 1024, The Diffie-Hellman algorithm allows two parties to agree on a key that they can use to encrypt
2048, 3072, messages they want to send to each other. The security of this algorithm depends on the assumption
4096 that it is easy to raise a number to a certain power, but difficult to compute which power was used
given the number and the outcome.
Digital Signature Standard 512 - 1024 DSS specifies DSA as the algorithm for digital signatures. DSA is a public key algorithm based on the
(DSS) and Digital Signature ElGamal signature scheme. Signature creation speed is similar to RSA, but is 10 to 40 times slower for
Algorithm (DSA) verification.
Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman 512 to 2048 RSA is for public-key cryptography that is based on the current difficulty of factoring very large
encryption algorithms (RSA) numbers. It is the first algorithm known to be suitable for signing, as well as encryption. It is widely
used in electronic commerce protocols and is believed to be secure given sufficiently long keys and
the use of up-to-date implementations.
EIGamal 512 - 1024 An asymmetric key encryption algorithm for public-key cryptography which is based on the Diffie-
Hellman key agreement. A disadvantage of the ElGamal system is that the encrypted message
becomes very big, about twice the size of the original message and for this reason it is only used for
small messages such as secret keys.
Elliptic curve techniques 224 or Elliptic curve cryptography can be used to adapt many cryptographic algorithms, such as Diffie-
higher Hellman or ElGamal. The main advantage of elliptic curve cryptography is that the keys can be much
smaller.
25
Confidentiality
Asymmetric Encryption - Confidentiality
▪ The process can be summarized using the formula:
Public Key (Encrypt) + Private Key (Decrypt) = Confidentiality
▪ When the public key is used to encrypt the data, the private key must be used to decrypt the
data. Only one host has the private key; therefore, confidentiality is achieved.

Alice requests and obtains Bob’s public key. Alice uses Bob’s public key to encrypt a message Bob then uses his private key to decrypt the
using an agreed-upon algorithm. Alice sends the message. Since Bob is the only one with the
encrypted message to Bob. private key, Alice's message can only be
decrypted by Bob and thus confidentiality is
achieved.

26
Confidentiality
Asymmetric Encryption - Authentication

▪ The authentication objective of asymmetric algorithms is initiated when the encryption

process is started with the private key ;
▪ The process can be summarized using the formula:
Private Key (Encrypt) + Public Key (Decrypt) = Authentication

Alice encrypts a message using her private key. Alice sends In order to authenticate the message, Bob uses Alice’s public key to decrypt the
the encrypted message to Bob. Bob needs to authenticate Bob requests Alice’s public key. message.
that the message did indeed come from Alice.

27
Confidentiality
Asymmetric Encryption - Integrity
▪ Combining the two asymmetric encryption processes provides message confidentiality,
authentication, and integrity. The following example will be used to illustrate this process. In
this example, a message will be ciphered using Bob’s public key and a ciphered hash will be
encrypted using Alice’s private key to provide confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity ;
Alice wants to send a message to Bob ensuring that only Bob Alice also wants to ensure message authentication and
can read the document. In other words, Alice wants to ensure integrity. Authentication ensures Bob that the document was
message confidentiality. Alice uses the public key of Bob to sent by Alice, and integrity ensures that it was not modified
cipher the message. Only Bob will be able to decipher it using Alice uses her private key to cipher a hash of the message.
his private key Alice sends the encrypted message with its encrypted hash to
Bob.

28
Confidentiality
Asymmetric Encryption – Integrity (Cont.)

Bob uses Alice’s public key to verify that the message was not
modified. The received hash is equal to the locally determined Bob uses his private key to decipher the message.
hash based on Alice’s public key. Additionally, this verifies that
Alice is definitely the sender of the message because nobody
else has Alice’s private key.

29
Confidentiality
Diffie-Hellman
▪ Diffie-Hellman (DH) is an asymmetric mathematical
algorithm that allows two computers to generate an
identical shared secret without having communicated
before. The new shared key is never actually
exchanged between the sender and receiver.
However, because both parties know it, the key can
be used by an encryption algorithm to encrypt traffic
between the two systems ;
▪ Here are two examples of instances when DH is
commonly used :
• Data is exchanged using an IPsec VPN ;
• SSH data is exchanged ;
▪ To help illustrate how DH operates, refer to the figure.
The colors in the figure will be used instead of
complex long numbers to simplify the DH key 30

agreement process.
Confidentiality
Diffie-Hellman (Cont.)
▪ Diffie-Hellman uses different DH groups to determine the strength of the key that is used in
the key agreement process. The higher group numbers are more secure but require
additional time to compute the key ;
▪ The following identifies the DH groups supported by Cisco IOS Software and their associated
prime number value:
• DH Group 1: 768 bits ;
• DH Group 2: 1024 bits ;
• DH Group 5: 1536 bits ;
• DH Group 14: 2048 bits ;
• DH Group 15: 3072 bits ;
• DH Group 16: 4096 bits.

31
Confidentiality
Video - Cryptography

▪ This video will demonstrate securing data using hash and encryption.

32
Confidentiality
Lab - Encrypting and Decrypting Data Using OpenSSL

▪ In this lab, you will complete the following objectives :

• Encrypting Messages with OpenSSL ;
• Decrypting Messages with OpenSSL ;

33
Confidentiality
Lab - Encrypting and Decrypting Data Using a Hacker Tool

▪ In this lab, you will complete the following objectives :

• Setup Scenario ;
• Create and Encrypt Files ;
• Recover Encrypted Zip File Passwords ;

34
Confidentiality
Lab - Examining Telnet and SSH in Wireshark

▪ In this lab, you will complete the following objectives :

• Examine a Telnet Session with Wireshark ;
• Examine an SSH Session with Wireshark ;

35
16.4 Basic Integrity and
Authenticity Summary

36
Basic Integrity and Authenticity Summary
What Did I Learn in this Module?
• The four elements of secure communications are data integrity, origin authentication, data
confidentiality, and data non-repudiation.
• Hashing is based on a one-way mathematical function that is relatively easy to compute, but
significantly harder to reverse.
• A hash function H takes an input x and returns a fixed-size string hash value h.
• The four well-known hash functions are MD5 with 128 bit digest, SHA-1, SHA-2, and SHA-3.
• To add origin authentication and integrity assurance, use a keyed-hash message authentication
code (HMAC).
• The essential characteristics of key management are key generation, key verification, key
exchange, key storage, key lifetime, and key revocation and destruction.
• Two terms that are used to describe keys are key length and keyspace.
• A key that has n bits produces a keyspace that has 2^n possible key values. By adding one bit to
the key, the keyspace is effectively doubled.

37
Basic Integrity and Authenticity Summary
What Did I Learn in this Module? (Cont.)
• Cryptographic keys include symmetric keys, asymmetric keys, digital signatures, and hash keys.
• The strength of a modern algorithm depends on the size of the key.
• An administrator must find a good balance between the speed and protective strength of an
algorithm.
• The two classes of encryption used to provide data confidentiality are asymmetric and symmetric.
• Symmetric encryption algorithms such DES, 3DES, and AES are based on the premise that each
communicating party knows the pre-shared key.
• Asymmetric encryption algorithms, such as RSA and PKI, are designed so that the key that is used
for encryption is different from the key that is used for decryption.
• DH is commonly used when data is exchanged using an IPsec VPN and SSH data is exchanged.

38
Basic Integrity and Authenticity Summary
New Terms and Commands
• Secure Hash Algorithms (SHA) • key storage
• MD5 message-digest algorithm • key lifetime
• origin authentication • key revocation
• hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) • key destruction
• data non-repudiation • key length
• hash • keyspace
• hash function • Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA) algorithm
• hash value • Data Encryption Standard (DES) and 3DES
• digital fingerprint • Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) • symmetric encryption
• link state update (LSU) • asymmetric encryption
• key management • stream ciphers
• key generation • Software-Optimized Encryption Algorithm (SEAL)
• key verification • Rivest ciphers (RC) series algorithms
• key exchange • Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
39
Basic Integrity and Authenticity Summary
New Terms and Commands (Cont.)
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
• Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
• Diffie-Hellman (DH)
• Digital Signature Standard (DSS)
• Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)
• EIGamal
• Elliptic curve techniques
• public key
• private key

40