Secure Sockets Layer in Security Technology Essay Example
Secure Sockets Layer in Security Technology Essay Example

Secure Sockets Layer in Security Technology Essay Example

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  • Pages: 13 (3430 words)
  • Published: August 5, 2018
  • Type: Case Study
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SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a widely used and powerful security technology that establishes an encrypted connection between web servers and web browsers. This encrypted connection, known as https, ensures the confidentiality of user data transmitted from the customer side to a web server. Although SSL and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols are crucial for Internet expansion, there are still flaws and issues in their development. It is important to be aware of potential security vulnerabilities in the latest version because sequential attacks can have devastating consequences for both users and companies looking to securely transfer information. This article will discuss three common attacks: cipher suite rollback attack, narration rollback attack, and password exception in the SSL/TLS channel.

It is important to prioritize system security due to the increasing prevalence of the web and World Wide Web. This is because unencrypted plainte

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xt transmitted through the web can be intercepted and manipulated by anyone, including crackers, hackers, or users without programming knowledge. Information Technology faces the challenge of safeguarding personal privacy and ensuring secure online commerce. SSL/TLS helps create a secure connection between a server and a client, allowing encryption of the plaintext. Consequently, any third party trying to intercept the message would need to decrypt it in order to access its original content.[1].

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a methodology that ensures security for web-based applications. It utilizes TCP to establish a secure and trustworthy service. SSL comprises the SSL Record Protocol and higher-level protocols such as HTTP. Furthermore, three additional higher-level protocols incorporate the record protocol within the SSL stack.

SSL encompasses two phases: handshaking and data transfer. In the handshaking phase, the client and serve

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establish secret key parameters through a public-key encryption algorithm. Throughout data transfer, both parties encrypt and decrypt successive transmissions using this key[1].

The task is toand unify the text below, while preserving the and their contents:

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a technology that encrypts communication between the user and the web server, ensuring security. It prevents hacker attacks based on eavesdropping. When accessing a web page with SSL protection, a padlock icon appears to signify its secure status.

While SSL is crucial for securing the network communication link, it only serves as one layer of protection for sensitive applications. It is important to note that the majority of website attacks do not take place through this method. Instead, most website attacks occur through the following methods:

SSL's primary function is to safeguard the user's interaction with a website, rendering it challenging for eavesdroppers to intercept. However, it is important to acknowledge that SSL merely offers limited protection against hacking attempts.

When is it important to have SSL?

It is crucial to implement SSL for secure transmission of sensitive private data online, as it offers an extra layer of protection. While eavesdropping may not be a common method of attacking websites, it is important to safeguard against it due to the potential severe consequences.

Although the overall risks to the website may be minimal, certain situations can still present significant dangers to individual users. One such situation is when a user accesses your website through public wifi at a coffee shop, where other connected users can easily intercept their activities. This means that on non-SSL sites, eavesdroppers can obtain any information submitted through forms. Therefore, the level of risk

varies depending on the types of forms found on your website.

The login form poses the highest risk as it necessitates users to enter their username and password. An eavesdropper could potentially intercept and obtain these login credentials, enabling them to log in as the user. The level of danger varies based on the type of personal information accessible to the eavesdropper and the potential harm they can inflict with this data. It is worth noting that even if your website has minimal risk, it is important to consider that certain users may reuse passwords across multiple sites, thereby exposing themselves to risks beyond your jurisdiction.

Which types of "sensitive private data" need safeguarding?

To ensure the security of sensitive information, like credit card numbers, only the website owner and user should have access. If you choose to utilize an external e-commerce gateway for credit card processing, your e-commerce provider's SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) ensures transaction protection. Hence, there is no need to incorporate SSL on your website in this specific situation.

The protection of passwords is extremely important, as previously stated, whether it involves membership or the general user population. However, if you do not control a website through public wifi networks, the only passwords you need to consider are your personal admin passwords.

It should be emphasized that personal information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses is not regarded as private. The purpose of this data is to be shared with others. SSL does not offer genuine security for information that is already publicly accessible through sources like the phone book.

Having a robust privacy policy that clearly communicates to users the purpose and handling

of their personal information is crucial. This is especially important due to instances where organizations unlawfully sold personal databases without permission. It should be noted that SSL does not resolve this concern.

The passage discusses the blurred line between private data, which should only be known by you and the user, and personal data that is known and used by others. While individual pieces of personal data may not hold much significance, collecting enough personal data can lead to identity theft. This includes account or identity numbers (such as SSN, SIN, drivers license, health care or passport numbers), birth dates, common security questions (e.g., mother’s maiden name, names of family members), and similar information. If this information is stolen together for malicious purposes, it can pose a serious threat. The more you gather this type of information, the more beneficial it would be to include SSL in your security policy.

In 1994, Netscape implemented the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Protocol with the intention of improving Internet security. They aimed to establish a secure and encrypted link between clients and servers on various platforms and operating systems. Additionally, Netscape adopted the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which is considered more secure than the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The US Government authorized AES for handling classified information in June 2003.

Throughout the development of web browsers, it became evident that safeguarding communication between internet servers and web browsers was essential, particularly for business purposes. Initially, encryption was integrated into web browser applications but did not encompass non-HTTP applications. To tackle this problem, the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol emerged as an additional layer on TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) to enhance security.[1].

The

surge in SSL adoption has been motivated by the necessity to resolve security weaknesses found in earlier versions. Prior versions, like SSL 2.0, had vulnerabilities that enabled attackers to eavesdrop or intercept communication effortlessly. To tackle this problem, SSL Version 3.0 was created specifically to rectify a vulnerability known as the cipher-suite rollback attack, which permitted attackers to manipulate both parties into employing a weak encryption system [1].

The internet community's requests were the reason for the release of TLS.

The IETF offered a platform for the new protocol to be openly

Discussed and inspired developers to provide their input to the protocol.

The TLS protocol was released in January 1999 to guarantee secure communication across networks.

Develop a standard for private communications. The protocol enables client-server interactions.

The TLS protocol allows applications to securely communicate by preventing eavesdropping, tampering, or message forgery. The creators of the protocol state that TLS aims for cryptographic security, capability, extensibility, and relative efficiency. These objectives are met through the implementation of the TLS protocol on two levels.

The TLS Record protocol utilizes bilateral cryptography keys to establish a secure and private connection between the client and server. This connection is guaranteed through the implementation of hash functions generated by employing a Message Authentication Code.

The TLS handshake protocol facilitates communication initiation between the server and client, enabling them to mutually agree upon an encryption algorithm and encryption keys prior to commencing data transmission. TLS, similar to SSL, employs the same procedure for its handshake protocol and provides server authentication along with optional client authentication. The handshake protocol has undergone various modifications, which will be further discussed in a later section [2].

The main distinction between

TLS and SSL is the selection of cipher suites. In SSL, the cipher suites typically start with SSL, while in TLS they begin with TLS. One significant difference is that the FORTEZZA cipher suites are present in SSLv3 but not in TLS. However, starting from TLSv1.1, the AES cipher suites are notably included in later versions of TLS. The integration of AES cipher suites into TLS was facilitated by RFC 3268[3].

We welcome any other variations that catch our attention. If you have any additional suggestions, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Public and private keys play separate roles in cryptography and encryption algorithms. The public key is utilized to encrypt data and can be openly shared, whereas the private key must remain confidential as it decrypts the encrypted data.

The main objective of combining public key (also called asymmetric key) and private key (also known as symmetric key or secret key) is to enhance the security of encrypting and decrypting information. Integration of these keys guarantees secure communication between internet servers and browsers. The privateKey, which is stored on the web server, is utilized for decoding data transmitted from the browser, while the browser encrypts its information using the public key. [1].

The message is encrypted with a public key and decrypted with a private key. Only someone who has the corresponding private key can decrypt the message. However, decrypting a message that has been encrypted with a public key, like RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman), can be computationally intensive. Another use of a public key is when the sender encrypts the message using a secret key and the recipient decrypts it using the associated private key. This

is beneficial for message authentication, such as when a bank server transmits its digital signature encrypted with a private key, allowing any client to decrypt the message using the private key and verify its authenticity.[1]

Figure 2 shows SSL renegotiation messages.

SSL renegotiation allows for encrypted messages to be sent over the current SSL connection. These messages include various ciphers and encryption keys, enabling the establishment of a secure SSL session using an existing secure connection. This functionality proves advantageous when there is already an active regular SSL session. Here are some examples[2]:

Both the shopper and the server have the ability to request renegotiation at any moment. If the shopper wants to start renegotiation, they will send a "Client Hello" message via the existing encrypted channel. The server will respond with a "Server Hello" message and then proceed with the negotiation following the standard handshake procedure. On the other hand, if it is the server that wishes to initiate renegotiation, they can do so by sending a hello Request message to the shopper. Upon receiving this request, the shopper will send a "Client Hello" message and then go through the handshake process [4].

To clarify, both the shopper and server have the ability to initiate a session beginning or session renegotiation. Session beginning resumes a previous session using a previous session ID, thus avoiding the need for generating new cryptography keys. Renegotiation occurs when the complete shake process happens over an existing SSL association[1].

Despite my strong affinity for PHP as a programming language, it is concerning to see that popular open source libraries frequently have vulnerabilities relating to Transport Layer Security (TLS). Regrettably, the PHP community appears

to accept these problems without any legitimate reasoning, choosing to subject users to privacy breaches instead of resolving the underlying issue. This problem is worsened by PHP's insufficient implementation of SSL/TLS in PHP Streams, which is used by various components like socket-based HTTP clients and file system functions. Additionally, the security implications of SSL/TLS failures are not adequately addressed in the PHP library.

In order to ensure secure HTTPS requests in PHP, it is highly recommended to use the CURL extension. This extension is designed to prioritize security and benefits from extensive peer review from users outside of PHP. Taking this basic precaution can greatly enhance security measures. Ideally, PHP's internal developers should prioritize implementing the Secure By Default principle in their built-in SSL/TLS support.

Obviously, my introduction to SSL/TLS in PHP is quite tough. Vulnerabilities in Transport Layer Security are more fundamental compared to other security issues and we are all aware of the focus it gets in browsers. However, our server-side applications are equally crucial in securing user data. To delve deeper into SSL/TLS in PHP, let's explore PHP Streams and the more advanced CURL extension.

Figure 3 - Example of Google Chrome

Our attacks rely on the following scenario: the attacker monitors a large number of SSL connections that are encrypted with RC4. They wait for a "hit", which is when a weak key is used. Once a weak key is identified, the attacker can predict the least significant bits (LSBs) of the key stream bytes and use them to extract the LSBs of the plaintext bytes from the cipher text with a significant advantage. To identify which SSL sessions used weak keys, the attacker takes

advantage of the fact that the first encrypted bytes include the SSL "Finished" message and HTTP request, both of which have predictable data. Therefore, when a weak key is used, the patterns of the plaintext can be XOR-ed with key stream patterns, creating cipher text patterns that are visible to the attacker. Previous SSL attacks have used small mathematical biases to combine small pieces of plaintext data. To enable this combination, the target object must be encrypted multiple times, using the same key but different keys.[5].

This is beneficial in cases where network traffic is directed through an SSL proxy that is transparent, and the user possesses the private key used by the proxy to encrypt traffic sent to clients.[6].

This situation is relevant to traffic generated by Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers in rectify mode. These browsers are able to save SSL session keys in the NSS (Network Security Services) log format. The log file is created at a specific path designated by the SSLKEYLOGFILE environment variable.[6].

The technique of renegotiation attack allows a malicious individual to infiltrate commands into an HTTPS session, downgrade security from HTTPS to HTTP, insert customized responses, execute denial of service attacks, and more. This highlights the seriousness of the situation and emphasizes the importance of understanding the methods used in conducting such an attack [7].

Entrust Advantage SSL Certificates offer enhanced security for ecommerce, communications, and the transmission of personal data between browsers and internet servers, as well as between servers. They provide added convenience by allowing the inclusion of a second fully qualified name at no additional charge, thus ensuring the security of domain.com once WWW.domain.com is certified. Furthermore, these

certificates come with supplementary security features that identify and block malware on your website to prevent it from being blacklisted.

Despite the numerous advantages, there may be drawbacks to utilizing SSL certificates. One notable disadvantage is the associated cost. SSL providers are required to establish a reliable infrastructure and authenticate your identity, which incurs expenses. Consequently, some well-known providers have exorbitantly high prices. [8]

BEAST utilizes a specific type of attack known as a chosen-plaintext attack. The attacker employs this attack by guessing the plaintext associated with a well-known cipher text. The attacker requires access to an encoding oracle in order to determine if the guess is accurate by comparing the encoding of the plaintext guess to the famed cipher text. In order to counteract a chosen-plaintext attack, common TLS configurations utilize two mechanisms: an initialization vector (IV) and a cipher block chaining mode (CBC). An IV is a random string that is XORed with the plaintext message prior to encryption. Consequently, even if the same message is encrypted more than once, the resulting cipher texts will be distinct due to each message being encrypted with a different random IV. The IV is not kept secret but instead serves to add randomness to messages and is transmitted alongside the message in cleartext. Managing a new IV for every coding block (since AES operates on 16-byte blocks) can be unwieldy. For longer messages, CBC mode addresses this issue by using the preceding cipher text block as the IV for the subsequent plaintext block.[9].

In every browser request, the same secret/cookie is sent in a single session. TLS allows for optional compression of data before encryption, even though the content

is already encrypted in the TLS layer.

The length of the encrypted request can be viewed by an attacker. The length is directly determined by the plaintext data that is being compressed. Additionally, the attacker can manipulate compressed requests generated by the client to include their own data alongside secret data in the same stream. The CRIME attack takes advantage of these characteristics of browser-based SSL. To carry out the CRIME attack successfully, the following conditions must be met:

Conditions that must be fulfilled:

In recent times, SSL (secure sockets layer), which is used to safeguard a large number of network users, has raised concerns about its susceptibility.

Over the years, various attacks have been developed to undermine SSL. Despite its inherent security, attackers constantly search for vulnerabilities to circumvent security protocols and standards. SSL, which is utilized to safeguard sensitive HTTP traffic, is a prominent target. Hackers, who think innovatively, continually strive to find novel methods to obtain unauthorized access to confidential data. Now, let us examine some of the techniques hackers employ in their attempts to compromise SSL.

The HTTPS protocol and other encryption protocols like TLS and SSL, which secure the internet, have a significant vulnerability. These protocols allow users to securely access websites, send messages, and transfer important information without interception by third parties. The vulnerability has been identified as "Decrypting RSA with Obsolete and Weakened Encryption."

Intercepts any data exchanged between the user and the server, such as usernames, passwords, account numbers, emails, instant messages, vital documents, and potentially even intercepts requests and alters secure site content to deceive the user.[10]

When accessing an Access Enforcer or any UTM device, you will be able to view

the detection and prevention of numerous network attacks. The quantity of attacks can range from thousands to even hundreds of thousands. Many of these attacks are scans that serve as a preliminary step before an actual attack occurs. Depending on your configurations, there may also be a substantial number of firewall policy violations. However, what are the other forms of network attacks? What are the most prevalent ones in today's circumstances? A response to these questions can be found in the latest Threat Report released by McAfee Labs. The following chart consolidates data collected from millions of sensors positioned globally by the company. It highlights the most commonly detected network attacks in Q1 2015.[5]

The given text is already unified and does not require any .

SSL is crucial for ensuring network security, as it offers users a strong assurance of confidentiality, message integrity, and server authentication. This is essential for businesses to protect sensitive information.

The success of e-commerce depends on the trust clients have in the implementation of SSL on the World Wide Web. In the future, SSL termination devices will be crucial.

Being able to process extra transactions more efficiently is a capability that will continue to improve, as will the encryption methods for key lengths and cipher suites.

By ensuring the security of sensitive information over the internet, e-commerce platforms can continue to grow and improve for users.

As we become more comfortable using the internet for searching, banking, and embracing new online applications, our intimacy with it grows.

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[1] Hong lei Zhang discusses three attacks in SSL protocol and proposes solutions.

[2] Holly Lynne McKinley authored the

article "SANS Institute.pdf."

[3] "Secure Socket Layer (SSL) secure socket layer (SSL)." Raj Jain, .

[4] "Transport Layer Security.." Giuseppe Bianchi, .

According to Imperva, there are vulnerabilities in SSL when using RC4 that make it susceptible to attacks. [5]

According to the "Sourcefire SSL Appliance Administration and Deployment Guide-v36.pdf" [6].

[7] "Cyber Security." Planning Guide

[8] The abbreviation "SSL" stands for "secure sockets layer."

[9] Sarkar, Pratik Guha and Fitzgerald, Shawn. "ATTACKS ON SSL."

[10] The text "drown-attack-paper."

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