CHAPTER 4

PROTOCOLS & PRACTICES

IN USING ENCRYPTION

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 Introduction
What is a protocol?
Protocol is an orderly sequence of steps two or
more parties take to accomplish some task.
Everyone using a protocol must agree to the
protocol before using it.
People use protocols to regulate behavior for
mutual benefit.

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 Introduction
Good protocol has the following characteristics:
(1) Established in advance: the protocol is
completely designed before it is used.
(2) Mutually subscribed: All parties to the protocol
agree to follow its steps, in order.
(3) Unambiguous: No party can fail to follow a
step properly because the party has
misunderstood the step.
(4) Complete: For every situation that can occur
there is a prescribe action to be taken.

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 Types of Protocols

There are three types of protocols:

Arbitrated protocols
Adjudicated protocols
Self-enforcing protocols

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 Types of Protocols
Arbitrated Protocols
Arbitrator is a disinterested 3rd party trusted to
complete a transaction between two distrusting
parties.
Example: Buying and selling cars – banker or
lawyer is the arbitrator.
In computer protocol, an arbitrator is a
trustworthy 3rd party who ensures fairness. It
might be a person, a program or a machine.

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Arbitrated Protocols

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 Types of Protocols
Arbitrated computer protocols have several
disadvantages:
The two sides may not be able to find a neutral 3rd party
that both sides trust. Suspicious users are rightfully
suspicious of an unknown arbiter in a network.
Maintaining the availability of an arbiter represents a cost
to the users or the network, that cost may be high.

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 Types of Protocols
Arbitrated computer protocols have several
disadvantages:
Arbitration causes a time delay in communication
because a third party must receive, act on and then
forward every transaction.
If the arbitration service is heavily used, it may
become a bottleneck in the network as many users
try to access a single arbiter.
Secrecy becomes vulnerable, because the arbiter
has access to much sensitive information.

For these reasons, an arbitrated protocol is avoided if possible! 8

 Types of Protocols
Adjudicated Protocols
The idea of adjudicator is similar to arbiter.
With an adjudicated protocol enough data is
available for a disinterested 3rd party to judge
fairness based on the evidence.
Not only can 3rd party determine whether two
disputing parties acted fairly that is within the
rules of the protocol but the 3 rd party can also
determine who cheated.

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 Types of Protocols
Adjudicated Protocols
Adjudicated protocols involve the services of a
3rd party only in a case of a dispute.
Therefore, they are usually less costly in terms
of machine time or access to a trusted 3 rd party
software judge than arbitrated protocols.
However, adjudicated protocols detect a failure
to cooperate only after the failure has occurred.

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Adjudicated Protocol

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 Types of Protocol
Self-Enforcing Protocols
A self-enforcing protocol is one that guarantees
fairness.
If either party tries to cheat, that fact becomes
evident to the other party.
No outsider is needed to ensure fairness.
Obviously, self-enforcing protocols are
preferable to the other types.
However, there is not a self-enforcing protocol
for every situation.

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Self-Enforcing Protocol

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 Protocol to Solve Problems
Cryptographic algorithms rely on the property
that it is easy to encrypt and decrypt messages
with the appropriate keys but very hard to find
keys.
Therefore key management is really important!!!

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 Protocol to Solve Problems

Several protocols developed for key distribution:

Symmetric key exchange with server
Symmetric key exchange without server
Asymmetric key exchange with server
Asymmetric key exchange without server

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 Protocol to Solve Problems
Symmetric key exchange without server

Assume that two users already each have a copy of a

symmetric (secret) encryption key K known only to them
– small messages is ok to use K.
But for greater security, they can agree to change keys
on a frequent basis even as often as a different key for
each message.
To do this, either one can generate a fresh key called
KNEW, encrypt it under K and send to the other.
K is called the “master key”
KNEW is called the “traffic” or “session” key.
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 Why Knew?

Block replay attack

Assume two bank use fixed format on electronic
exchange

name of depositor account no transfer amount

Suppose outsiders (Tipah) able to tap the data channel

between these banks.
The first day, Tipah has his bank transfer $10 on his
behalf from one bank to another. (Tipah has account
with both banks). The next day she does the same thing
but the amount is $20.

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Assume that both transmissions were sent under the
same encryption key.
Tipah would noticed that the first two blocks encrypted
were the same. So she know that the first two blocks are
her name and her account no. The only different is the
third block (the amount of money).

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By inserting data onto the transmission line, Tipah can
now replace any person and account number with his
own name and account number, leaving the amount
alone.
Tipah does not need to know who should be getting the
money or how much is being obtained; Tipah simply
changes name and account no to his own and watches
the balance in his account grow.
In ease, the interceptor does not necessarily have to
break the encryption.

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Protocol to Solve Problems
Symmetric key exchange with server

Distribution Centre

i. Please give me a key to

communicate with Renee
ii. Here’s a key for you and
a copy for Renee
Pablo

Renee iii. Renee, the distribution center

gave me this key for our private
communication.

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 Protocol to Solve Problems
Symmetric key exchange with server

Disadvantage of this approach:

Two users must both share one key that is
unique to them.
Other pairs of users need unique keys and
in general n users need n(n-1)/2.
Eg. 5 users –> 5(5-1)/2 = 10 keys.

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Protocols to Solve Problems
Asymmetric key exchange without server

Issues

1. E(M, Rpub) – slow.

2. E(Knew, Rpub) – no authentication.

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 Protocols to Solve Problems
Asymmetric key exchange without server

Suppose Pablo and Reene want to exchange a message, each has a

public/private key pair and each has access to the others public key.
Denote Ppub –> Pablo public key and Ppriv –> Pablo private key.
Rpub -> Renee public key and Rpriv -> Renee private key.
Pablo can send E(Knew, Rpub) directly to Reene.
But how sure that E(Knew, Rpub) is from Pablo? Reene couldn’t tell that.
So to improve better – Pablo sends to Reene E(E(Knew, Ppriv), Rpub)

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 Protocol to Solve Problems
Asymmetric key exchange with server

Distribution Centre

4. Please give me 1. Please give me

Pablo’s Public Key Renee’s Public Key

2. Here is Renee
5. Here is Pablo’s Public Key
Public Key
Pablo
3. I’m Pablo,
Lets talk
Renee
6. Renee here
what’s up?
7. How are you
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 Protocol to Solve Problems
Distribution Center (DC)
How do DC deals with keys? – publish its own public
key widely – anybody wish to register, deliver the
key and personal identity under the DC key
Can have more than one center:
– as backup, overload, if it doesn’t have the key, request from
other DC
– performance, size, reliability
– must be available any time
So, what gives us confidence that the keys
registered are authentic?? That is, they belong to the
people whose identification are associated.

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 Protocol to Solve Problems
Certificate
Develop ways for two people to establish trust without
having both parties to be present.
Trust coordinated => Certificate Authority

Advantages and Disadvantages of Key Distribution

Operational Restriction – availability of DC
Trust – who must be trusted
Protection from failure – anybody impersonate any
entities
Efficient Protocol – use several time-consuming steps
for one-time use (establish an encryption key)
Protocol – easy to implement or not (computer
implementation vs manual use)
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 Digital Signature
A Digital Signature is a protocol that produces
the same effect as a real signature.
It has the following characteristics:
– Authentic : the recipient believes the signer
deliberately signed the document
– Unforgeable : the signature proves that the signer
and nobody else signed the document
– Single purpose : the signature is attached to the
document and cannot be moved to a different one
– Unalterable : after it has been signed, the document
can no longer be changed.
– Unrepudiable : after the fact, the signer cannot
successfully deny having signed the document.

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