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E Mail Security

This document discusses email security technologies like PGP and S/MIME. PGP provides encryption, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation for email using public/private key cryptography and a web of trust model. S/MIME uses X.509 certificates and provides similar security services as PGP within the MIME email framework. Other topics covered include key management, trust models, encryption algorithms and enhanced security services for email.

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Mangala Semage
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55 views25 pages

E Mail Security

This document discusses email security technologies like PGP and S/MIME. PGP provides encryption, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation for email using public/private key cryptography and a web of trust model. S/MIME uses X.509 certificates and provides similar security services as PGP within the MIME email framework. Other topics covered include key management, trust models, encryption algorithms and enhanced security services for email.

Uploaded by

Mangala Semage
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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E - mail security

Email Security
 emailis one of the most widely used and
regarded network services

 currently message contents are not secure


 may be inspected either in transit
 or by suitably privileged users on destination
system
Email Security Enhancements
 confidentiality
 protection from disclosure
 authentication
 of sender of message
 message integrity
 protection from modification
 non-repudiation of origin
 protection from denial by sender
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
 widely used de facto secure email

 developed by Phil Zimmermann

 selected best available cryptographic algorithms to use

 integrated into a single program

 on Unix, PC, Macintosh and other systems

 originally free, now also have commercial versions


available
PGP Operation –
Authentication
1. sender creates message
2. make SHA-1160-bit hash of message
3. attached RSA signed hash to message
4. receiver decrypts & recovers hash code
5. receiver verifies received message hash
PGP Operation –
Confidentiality
1. sender forms 128-bit random session key
2. encrypts message with session key
3. attaches session key encrypted with RSA
4. receiver decrypts & recovers session key
5. session key is used to decrypt message
PGP Operation – Confidentiality
& Authentication
 can use both services on same message
 create signature & attach to message
 encrypt both message & signature
 attach RSA/ElGamal encrypted session key
PGP Operation –
Compression
 bydefault PGP compresses message
after signing but before encrypting
 so can store uncompressed message &
signature for later verification
 & because compression is non deterministic
 uses ZIP compression algorithm
PGP Operation – Email
Compatibility
 when using PGP will have binary data to send
(encrypted message etc)
 however email was designed only for text
 hence PGP must encode raw binary data into
printable ASCII characters
 uses radix-64 algorithm
 maps 3 bytes to 4 printable chars
 also appends a CRC
 PGP also segments messages if too big
PGP Operation – Summary
PGP Session Keys
 need a session key for each message
 of varying sizes: 56-bit DES, 128-bit CAST or
IDEA, 168-bit Triple-DES

 generated using ANSI X12.17 mode

 usesrandom inputs taken from previous


uses and from keystroke timing of user
PGP Public & Private Keys
 since many public/private keys may be in use,
need to identify which is actually used to encrypt
session key in a message
 could send full public-key with every message
 but this is inefficient
 rather use a key identifier based on key
 is least significant 64-bits of the key
 will very likely be unique
 also use key ID in signatures
PGP Message Format
PGP Key Rings
 each PGP user has a pair of key rings:
 public-key ring contains all the public-keys of
other PGP users known to this user, indexed
by key ID

 private-key ring contains the public/private


key pair(s) for this user
PGP Key Management
 rather than relying on certificate authorities
 in PGP every user is own CA
 can sign keys for users they know directly
 forms a “web of trust”
 trust keys have signed
 can trust keys others have signed if have a chain of
signatures to them
 key ring includes trust indicators
 users can also revoke their keys
PGP Trust Model Example
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 in many mail agents
 eg MS Outlook, Mozilla, Mac Mail etc
S/MIME Functions
 enveloped data
 encrypted content and associated keys
 signed data
 encoded message + signed digest
 clear-signed data
 cleartext message + encoded signed digest
 signed & enveloped data
 nesting of signed & encrypted entities
S/MIME Cryptographic
Algorithms
 digitalsignatures: DSS & RSA
 hash functions: SHA-1 & MD5
 session key encryption: ElGamal & RSA
 message encryption: AES, Triple-DES,
RC2/40 and others
 MAC: HMAC with SHA-1
 have process to decide which algorithms
to use
S/MIME Messages
 S/MIME secures a MIME entity with a
signature, encryption, or both
 forming a MIME wrapped PKCS object
 have a range of content-types:
 enveloped data
 signed data
 clear-signed data
 registration request
 certificate only message
S/MIME Certificate
Processing
 S/MIME uses X.509 v3 certificates
 managed using a hybrid of a strict X.509
CA hierarchy & PGP’s web of trust
 each client has a list of trusted CA’s
certificates
 and own public/private key pairs &
certificates
 certificates must be signed by trusted CA’s
Certificate Authorities
 have several well-known CA’s
 Verisign one of most widely used
 Verisign issues several types of Digital IDs
 increasing levels of checks & hence trust
Class Identity Checks Usage
1 name/email check web browsing/email
2 + enroll/addr check email, subs, s/w validate
3 + ID documents e-banking/service access
S/MIME Enhanced Security
Services
3 proposed enhanced security services:
 signed receipts
 security labels
 secure mailing lists
Domain Keys Identified Mail
a specification for cryptographically
signing email messages
 so signing domain claims responsibility
 recipients / agents can verify signature
 proposed Internet Standard RFC 4871
 has been widely adopted
DKIM
Strategy
 transparent
to user
 MSA sign
 MDA verify
 forpragmatic
reasons

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