Replay Attacks
Replay Attack First, attacker intercepts a message Not difficult to do
Replay Attack Later, attacker retransmits (replays) the message to the original destination host Does not have to be able to read a message to replay it
Replay Attack Why replay attacks? To gain access to resources by replaying an authentication message In a denial-of-service attack, to confuse the destination host
Thwarting Replay Attacks Put a time stamp in each message to ensure that the message is “fresh” Do not accept a message that is too old Place a sequence number in each message Do not accept a duplicated message Message Time Stamp Sequence Number
Thwarting Replay Attacks In request-response applications, Sender of request generates a nonce (random number) Places the nonce in the request Server places the nonce in the response Neither party accepts duplicate nonces Request Response Nonce Nonce
Thwarting Replay Attacks To prevent changes in the message being replayed Message integrity is needed Requires a digital signature or equivalent See HMAC under IPsec Message Digital Signature Or HMAC