Security Jonathan Calazan December 12, 2005
Threats to Message interception s sent in clear text over the Internet. Message modification Anyone with system admin rights on the mail servers your message visits can not only read your message, but also delete or change the message before it reaches its destination (and the recipient won’t be able to tell if the message has been modified). False messages It is very easy to create an with someone else’s name and address. SMTP servers don’t check for sender authenticity.
Threats to Message Replay Messages can be saved, modified, and re-sent later. Repudiation You can’t prove that someone sent you a message since messages can be forged.
Solutions First, let’s review the requirements for secure . Sender authenticity Nonrepudiation Message integrity Message confidentiality
Solutions What do we need to meet these requirements? Digital Signatures Solves integrity, authenticity, and nonrepudiation problems. Encryption Solves confidentiality problem.
Secure Systems Both of these systems provide encryption and digital signatures for security. Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
S/MIME Developed by RSA Data Security, Inc. The Internet standard for secure attachments. Integrated into many commercial clients, such as Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Communicator, and Lotus Notes (making it likely to dominate the secure market). Encourages users to obtain a Digital Certificate from a reliable Certification Authority (CA) (you can get a free one from here:
S/MIME S/MIME-aware clients automatically detect the presence of the signature if the certificate was validated by a well-known CA.
PGP Invented by Phil Zimmerman in Originally free, became a commercial product after being bought by Network Associates in 1996 (freeware version is still available here: Available as a plug-in for popular clients. Can also be used as a stand-alone software. There is no centralized authority.
PGP Addresses the key distribution problem with a trust model called “web of trust.” Users create their own self-signed certificates, which can be later signed by others. Users interpret trust level for themselves.
Problems with Secure Many people don’t use it because: They don’t know how. Difficulties of obtaining a Digital Certificate. S/MIME and PGP schemes do not protect the sender against a recipient claiming not to have received the message. It is still possible to create fake certificates (Class-1 and Class-2 certificates which can be obtained online) if you know enough information about a person. Key availability and migration
Other Useful Links Trace the source of the s (using the header). tm tm Check to see if the sender is a known spammer.
Sources security.html security.html richardson.net/misc/security.html richardson.net/misc/security.html onferenceseries/gregackerman pdf onferenceseries/gregackerman pdf ges/Netadvicesecurity.shtml ges/Netadvicesecurity.shtml sig.htm sig.htm