APPLICATION LAYER

RESPONSIBILITIES OF APPLICATION LAYER

• Application Layer provides a facility by which users can forward several emails and it
also provides a storage facility.
• This layer allows users to access, retrieve and manage files in a remote computer.
• It allows users to log on as a remote host.
• This layer provides access to global information about various services.
• This layer provides services which include: e-mail, transferring files, distributing results
to the user, directory services, network resources and so on.
• It provides protocols that allow software to send and receive information and present
meaningful data to users.
• It handles issues such as network transparency, resource allocation and so on.
• This layer serves as a window for users and application processes to access network
services.
HTTP

• The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used to

define how the client server programs can be written
to get web pages from the Web.
• An HTTP client sends a request; an HTTP server
returns a response.
• The server uses the port number 80; the client uses a
temporary port number.
• HTTP uses the services of TCP, which is a
connection-oriented and reliable protocol.
• Two types: request , response
REQUEST MESSAGES
DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM

• The DNS is a distributed database that resides on multiple

machines on the internet. It provide e-mail routing information.
• To have a hierarchical name space, a domain name space was
designed.
• Each node in the tree has a domain name. A full domain name is
a sequence of labels separated by dots (.). The domain names
are always read from the node up to the root.
• In the Internet, the domain name space (tree) was divided into
three sections: generic domains, country domains, and the
inverse domains.
DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM

• Generic Domains The generic domains define registered

hosts according to their generic behavior. Each node in the
tree defines a domain, which is an index to the domain
name space database.
• Country Domains The country domains section uses two-
character country abbreviations (e.g., us for United
States). Second labels can be organizational, or they can
be more specific national designations.
• Inverse domain is used to find the name of a host when
given the IP address.
FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL

• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard network protocol used for the transfer of files from one host to
another over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet.
• FTP works by opening two connections that link the computers trying to communicate with each other.
• One of the main reasons why modern businesses and individuals need FTP is its ability to perform large file
size transfers.
• The three most common ways of using FTP include:

1. Via a web browser: With a web browser, you do not need any special software or a client to download
files from servers that provide for FTP sites.
2. A general user interface (GUI) FTP client: These third-party applications enable users to connect and
then send files over FTP.
3. Command-line FTP: Major operating systems come equipped with FTP client capabilities as a command
line.
FTP

• FTP uses Transport control protocol, which provides reliability and flow control that can
guarantee that the file will reach its destination while the connection is established.
• TFTP uses User Datagram protocol which doesn't establish a connection and therefore
cannot guarantee that files to get to their destinations.
 SMTP

• SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

• SMTP is a set of communication guidelines that allow software to transmit an
electronic mail over the internet is called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
• It is a program used for sending messages to other computer users based on e-
mail addresses.
• It provides a mail exchange between users on the same or different
computers, and it also supports:
• It can send a single message to one or more recipients.
• Sending message can include text, voice, video or graphics.
• It can also send the messages on networks outside the internet.
WORKING OF SMTP

1. Composition of Mail: A user sends an e-mail by composing an electronic mail message using a Mail User Agent (MUA).
Mail User Agent is a program which is used to send and receive mail. The message contains two parts: body and header. The
body is the main part of the message while the header includes information such as the sender and recipient address. The
header also includes descriptive information such as the subject of the message.
2. Submission of Mail: After composing an email, the mail client then submits the completed e-mail to the SMTP server by
using SMTP on TCP port 25.
3. Delivery of Mail: E-mail addresses contain two parts: username of the recipient and domain name. For
example, [email protected], where "vivek" is the username of the recipient and "gmail.com" is the domain name.
Receipt and Processing of Mail: Once the incoming message is received, the exchange server delivers it to the incoming
server (Mail Delivery Agent) which stores the e-mail where it waits for the user to retrieve it.
4. Access and Retrieval of Mail: The stored email in MDA can be retrieved by using MUA (Mail User Agent). MUA can be
accessed by using login and password.
 SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

• SNMP is a framework used for managing devices on the internet.

• It provides a set of operations for monitoring and managing the internet.
• SNMP has two components Manager and agent.
• The manager is a host that controls and monitors a set of agents such as
routers.
• It is an application layer protocol in which a few manager stations can
handle a set of agents.
• The protocol designed at the application level can monitor the devices made
by different manufacturers and installed on different physical networks.
• It is used in a heterogeneous network made of different LANs and WANs
connected by routers or gateways.
MANAGER & AGENTS

• A manager is a host that runs the SNMP client program while the agent is a router that runs the
SNMP server program.
• Management of the internet is achieved through simple interaction between a manager and agent.
• The agent is used to keep the information in a database while the manager is used to access the
values in the database. For example, a router can store the appropriate variables such as a number
of packets received and forwarded while the manager can compare these variables to determine
whether the router is congested or not.
• Agents can also contribute to the management process. A server program on the agent checks the
environment, if something goes wrong, the agent sends a warning message to the manager.
 SNMP

• SNMP defines five types of messages: GetRequest, GetNextRequest,

SetRequest, GetResponse, and Trap.
• GetRequest: The GetRequest message is sent from a manager (client)
to the agent (server) to retrieve the value of a variable.
• GetNextRequest: The GetNextRequest message is sent from the
manager to agent to retrieve the value of a variable. This type of
message is used to retrieve the values of the entries in a table. If the
manager does not know the indexes of the entries, then it will not be
able to retrieve the values. In such situations, GetNextRequest message
is used to define an object.
 SNMP

• GetResponse: The GetResponse message is sent from an

agent to the manager in response to the GetRequest and
GetNextRequest message. This message contains the value of
a variable requested by the manager.
• SetRequest: The SetRequest message is sent from a manager
to the agent to set a value in a variable.
• Trap: The Trap message is sent from an agent to the manager
to report an event. For example, if the agent is rebooted, then
it informs the manager as well as sends the time of rebooting.
Cryptography
Objectives of
Information Security

•Confidentiality: Only authorized users

and processes should be able to access
or modify data
•Integrity: Data should be maintained in a
correct state and nobody should be able
to improperly modify it, either
accidentally or maliciously
•Availability: Authorized users should be
able to access data whenever they need
to do so
 Cryptography
• Cryptography is the study of
secure communications
techniques that allow only the
sender and intended recipient of
a message to view its contents.
Here, data is encrypted using a
secret key, and then both the
encoded message and secret key
are sent to the recipient for
decryption.
 • Plaintext: This is the original intelligible message or data that is fed
into the algorithm as input.
• Encryption algorithm: The encryption algorithm performs various
substitutions and transformations on the plaintext.
• Secret key: The secret key is also input to the encryption algorithm.
The key is a value independent of the plaintext and of the algorithm.
Basic terms The algorithm will produce a different output depending on the
specific key being used at the time. The exact substitutions and
Cryptography transformations performed by the algorithm depend on the key.
• Ciphertext: This is the scrambled message produced as output. It
depends on the plaintext and the secret key. For a given message, two
different keys will produce two different ciphertexts. The ciphertext is
an apparently random stream of data and, as it stands, is
unintelligible.
• Decryption algorithm: This is essentially the encryption algorithm
run in reverse. It takes the ciphertext and the secret key and produces
the original plaintext. There are two r
 • type of encryption operations used
substitution / transposition

• number of keys used

Dimensions of single-key or {private (Symmetric)}
cryptography two-key or {public and private(Asymmetric)}

• way in which plaintext is processed

block / stream
Type of encryption
operations used
 Classical Substitution
Ciphers

or if plaintext is viewed as a
where letters of plaintext sequence of bits, then
are replaced by other substitution involves
letters or by numbers or replacing plaintext bit
symbols patterns with ciphertext bit
patterns
 • earliest known substitution cipher
• Developed by Julius Caesar
• first attested use in military affairs
Caesar • replaces each letter by 3rd letter on
• example:
Cipher meet me after the toga party
PHHW PH DIWHU WKH WRJD SDUWB
• can define transformation as:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
• mathematically give each letter a number
abcdefghij k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25
 • rather than just shifting the alphabet
• could shuffle (jumble) the letters arbitrarily
Monoalphabeti • each plaintext letter maps to a different random
ciphertext letter
c Cipher
• hence key is 26 letters long
Plain: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Cipher: DKVQFIBJWPESCXHTMYAUOLRGZN
• Plaintext: ifwewishtoreplaceletters
• Ciphertext: WIRFRWAJUHYFTSDVFSFUUFYA
Numbers of keys used

Single –Symmetric
Two keys -
Asymmetric
Symmetric v/s Asymmetric key
COMPARISON SYMMETRIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY ASYMMETRIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY

Asymmetric encryption uses a

Symmetric encryption uses a single
Basic different key for encryption and
key.
decryption.

Symmetric encryption is faster in Asymmetric Encryption is slow in

Performance
execution. execution.

Algorithms DES, 3DES, AES, and RC4. Diffie-Hellman, RSA.

Asymmetric encryption is often

Symmetric encryption is used for
Purpose used for securely exchanging secret
bulk data transmission.
keys.
ways in which plaintext
is processed
Stream Cipher
A stream cipher is one that
encrypts a digital data stream
one bit or one byte at a time.
Block cipher
• A block cipher is one in which a block of plaintext
is treated as a whole and used to produce a
ciphertext block of equal length.
• Different modes of block cipher:-
Electronic
codebook (ECB)
• The simplest of encryption
modes is ECB. The message is
divided into blocks and each
block of 64 bits is
encrypted separately.
Cipher block
chaining
• In CBC, previous cipher block
is given as input to next
encryption algorithm after
XOR with original plaintext
block(64 bits). In a nutshell
here, a cipher block is
produced by encrypting a
XOR output of previous
cipher block(64 bits) and
present plaintext block.
Cipher
Feedback Mode
(CFB)
• In this mode the cipher is
given as feedback to the next
block of encryption with
some new specifications: first
an initial vector IV is used for
first encryption and output
bits are divided as set
of sandb-s bits the left hand
side sbits are selected and
are applied an XOR operation
with plaintext bits.
output
feedback mode
• The follows nearly same process
as the Cipher Feedback mode
except that it sends the encrypted
output as feedback instead of the
actual cipher which is XOR output.
In this output feedback mode, all
bits of the block are send instead
of sending selected s bits. The
Output Feedback mode of block
cipher holds great resistance
towards bit transmission errors. It
also decreases dependency or
relationship of cipher on plaintext.
Counter Mode
• The Counter Mode or CTR is a
simple counter based block
cipher implementation. Every
time a counter initiated value
is encrypted and given as
input to XOR with plaintext
which results in ciphertext
block. The CTR mode is
independent of feedback use
and thus can be implemented
in parallel.