Cryptography and Network Security

 Overview
• Computer Security Concept

• The OSI Security Architecture

• Security Attacks

• Security Services

• Security Mechanisms.

• A model for Network Security

Main Areas
Definitions

• Network Security - measures to protect data during their transmission

• Internet Security - measures to protect data during their transmission

over a collection of interconnected networks

• Computer Security: The protection afforded to an automated

information system in order to attain the applicable objectives of
preserving the integrity, availability and confidentiality of information
system resources (includes hardware, software, firmware,
information/data, and telecommunications)
Role of Security:

•Prevent
•Detect
•Correct

Security violations that involve the

transmission of information
Key Security Concepts
 Levels of Impact

 3 levels of impact from a security breach

 Low
 Moderate
 High

Goals:

• To protect computer assets from:

• Human errors, natural disasters, physical and electronic
maliciousness.

• Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability

Confidentiality (Secrecy, Privacy)

• Data confidentiality
• Assure that private or confidential information is not made
available or disclosed to any unauthorized individuals

• Privacy
• Assure that individuals control or influence what information
related to them may be collected and stored and by whom and to
whom that information may be disclosed

(Ensuring that the system is only accessible by authorized parties.)

Integrity
• Data integrity
• Assure that information and programs are changed only in a
specified and authorized manner.

• System integrity
• Assure that a system performs its intended function in an
unaffected manner, free from deliberate or inadvertent
unauthorized manipulation of the system.
Availability
• Assure that systems work promptly and service is not denied to
authorized users. (Denial of Service (DoS))

• Ensuring that authorized parties are not denied access to

information and resources.

• Ensuring that the computer works when it is supposed to work and

that it works the way it should.

(access to computing resources without difficulties)

.
Other Goals
• Non-repudiation:
• Ensuring that communication parties can’t later deny that the
exchange took place (or when the exchange took place).

• Legitimate use:
• Ensuring that resources are not used by unauthorized parties or in
unauthorized ways.
• Examples:
• Printer and disk quotas.
• Spam-filters in E-mail servers.
Security breaches:
• Exposure: A form of possible loss or a harm in computing system.
• Examples :
• Unauthorized disclosure of data,
• modification of data
• Denial legitimate access to computing.

• Vulnerability: is a weakness in the security system that might be

exploited to cause loss or harm.

• Attack: an assault on system security, a deliberate attempt to evade

security services.
Threats
• Physical threats:
• Weather,
• Natural disaster,
• Power • Software threats:
• viruses,
• Human threats: • Trojan horses,
• stealing, • logic bombs.
• trickery,
• spying,
• sabotage,
• accidents.
Network Security
Normal Flow:
Interruption: services or data become unavailable, unusable,
destroyed, and so on, such as lost of file, denial of service, etc.

Cut wire lines,

Jam wireless
signals,
Drop packets,
Interception: an unauthorized subject has gained access
to an object, such as stealing data, overhearing others
communication, etc.

Wiring,
eavesdrop
Modification: unauthorized changing of data or
tempering with services, such as alteration of data,
modification of messages, etc.

Replaced
intercept
info
Fabrication: additional data or activities are generated that would
normally no exist, such as adding a password to a system,
replaying previously send messages, etc.

Also called impersonation

OSI Security Architecture

•OSI : Open System Interconnection

•ITU : International Telecommunication Union

• ITU-T X.800 “Security Architecture for OSI”

• Defines a systematic way of defining and providing security
requirements
• For us it provides a useful overview of concepts we will study.
Aspects of Security

• Security Attack

• Security Mechanism

• Security Service
Security Attack

• Any action that compromises the security of

information owned by an organization
• Information security is about how to prevent attacks,
or failing that, to detect attacks on information-based
systems
• Can focus of generic types of attacks
• passive
• active
Passive Attacks:

A passive attack attempts to learn or make use of information from

the system but does not affect system resources
 Passive Attacks

• Are in the nature of eavesdropping on, or monitoring of,

transmissions

• Goal of the opponent is to obtain information that is being

transmitted

• Two types of passive attacks are:

• The release of message contents
• Traffic analysis
Active Attacks
An active attack attempts to alter system resources or affect their operation
 Active Attacks

• Involve some modification of the

data stream or the creation of a
false stream.

• Difficult to prevent because of the

wide variety of potential physical,
software, and network
vulnerabilities.

• Goal is to detect attacks and to

recover from any disruption or
delays caused by them
Security Service
• Enhance security of data processing systems and information
transfers of an organization.

• Intended to counter security attacks.

• Using one or more security mechanisms.

• Often replicates functions normally associated with physical

documents
• For example, have signatures, dates; need protection from
disclosure, tampering, or destruction; be notarized or
witnessed; be recorded or licensed
Security Service

• X.800:
• A service provided by a protocol layer of
communicating open systems, which ensures adequate
security of the systems or data transfers.

• RFC 4949:
• A processing or communication service provided by a
system to give a specific kind of protection to system
resources.
 Security Services (X.800)
• Authentication - assurance that the communicating entity is the one claimed.
Aauthentication services defined in X.800:

1. Peer entity authentication:- Provides for the corroboration of the entity of a peer entity in
association.
2. Data origin authentication:- provides for the corroboration of the source of a data units.

• Access Control - Prevention of the unauthorized use of a resource

• Data Confidentiality –Protection of data from unauthorized disclosure

• Data Integrity - Assurance that data received is as sent by an authorized entity

• Non-Repudiation - Protection against denial by one of the parties in a communication

Security Mechanism
• Feature designed to detect, prevent, or recover from a security attack.
• No single mechanism that will support all services required.
• However, one particular element underlies many of the security mechanisms in
use:
• cryptographic techniques

• specific security mechanisms:

• encipherment, digital signatures, access controls, data integrity,
authentication exchange, traffic padding, routing control, notarization
• pervasive security mechanisms:
• trusted functionality, security labels, event detection, security audit trails,
security recovery
Model for Network Security
Model for Network Security

• Requirements:

1. Design a suitable algorithm for the security transformation

2. Generate the secret information (keys) used by the algorithm

3. Develop methods to distribute and share the secret

information.

4. Specify a protocol enabling the principals to use the

transformation and secret information for a security service
Model for Network Access Security
Model for Network Access Security

• Requirements:
1. Select appropriate gatekeeper functions to identify users.

2. Implement security controls to ensure only authorised users

access designated information or resources.

• Trusted computer systems may be useful to help implement

this model.