Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography

Erwan Lemonnier

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Role of Computer Security

CIA
Confidentiality: protection against data disclosure
Integrity: Availability: protection against data modification protection against data disponibility

Identification & Authentication (I&A)

Provide a way of identifying entities, and controlling this identity

Non-repudiability
Bind an entity to its actions

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

How to implement CIA, I&A, N-R ? With Cryptography !

Main cryptographic tools:

Hash Functions Secret Key Cryptography Public Key Cryptography

And their combinations:

Certificates
PKI

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Main cryptographic tools

Hash Functions:
Bind one entity with a unique ID => Signature Hash + Encryption => trusted signature

Symmetric Key Cryptography

2 users share a secret key S and an algorithm.
S(S(M)) = M

Problem: how to exchange secret keys ? =>Secret Key Server (ex: kerberos)

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Main cryptographic tools

Public Key Cryptography:
Each user has a public key P and a private key S, and an algorithm A. P(S(M)) = S(P(M)) = M No shared secret !
Encryption with Public Key Crypto Authentication with Public Key Crypto

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Main cryptographic tools, PKI

How to distribute public keys ? Public Key Server (PKS), key exchange protocols

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI):

PKI = N x (Entities with private keys) + public key exchange system

REM: Public Key algorithms are slow Need to use both Public & Secret Key Cryptography Public Key Protocols work in 3 phases 1. Authentication via Public Key Cryptography (challenge) 2. Exchange of a session Secret Key, encrypted with Public Key Crypto 3. Session encrypted with Symmetric Cryptography

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Certificate
A certificate binds an entity with its public key. Its just a digitally signed piece of data. digital ID card Certificate = an entitys description (name, etc.) + entitys public key + expiration date, serial number, etc. + CAs name + a signature issued by a CA The certificate is issued and signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA)

Digital signature: CA signature = certificate hash, encrypted with CAs private key

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Certificate
The certificates CA is the only entity able to create/modify the certificate the CA has to be trusted

Certificates enable:
Clients to authenticate servers Servers to authenticate clients Public key exchange without Public Key Server No disclosure of private/secret keys. Certificates are usually stored encrypted.

Special features: chains of CAs, to distribute the task of issuing Certificates Certificate Revocation List, to disable certificates

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Usual cryptographic algorithms & infrastructures

Hash: Symmetric Key: MD4, MD5, SHA-1 DES, 3DES, AES (Rijnael), IDEA, RC4 RSA, Diffie-Hellman X509 IPSec, SSL, (kerberos)

Public/Private Key: Certificat: PKI:

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

example: IPSec
IPSec works at IP level. Provide authentication and encryption. Used to build VPNs.
Configuration: 2 transfert modes: tunnel or transport 2 transfert protocols: AH (Authentication Header) ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload)

=> authenticated traffic => encrypted traffic

Key exchange protocols: Internet Key Exchange (IKE), Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP), etc.

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Weaknesses of PKI and Certificates

PKI: unsecured server: unsecured client: weak algorithm: Certificate: unsecured computer: certificate password: untrustable CA: users:

hackable Public Key/Certificate servers private keys/passwords can be stolen/spied short keys, implementation or design breach

certificates can be stolen, password spied certificates are stored encrypted, with weak password easy to be issued a certificate from a CA they seldom check if CA can be trusted before accepting certificates (netscape GUI)

Attack example: hack clients computer, steal certificate & password man in the middle

Introduction to PKI, Certificates & Public Key Cryptography erwan@defcom.com

Links
Book: Applied cryptography, Bruce Schneier
URLs: theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/crypto-security.html www.counterpane.com/pki-risks.html www.csc.gatech.edu/~copeland/8813/slides/ www.iplanet.com/developer/docs/articles/security/pki.html web.mit.edu/6.857/OldStuff/Fall96/www/main.html