NET3106 – Network Security
Lecturer:
Houshyar Honar Pajooh
Room Number : AE-3-28 (University Building - East)
Email: houshyarh@sunway.edu.my
Sunway University | NET3106 Network Security | Houshyar Honar Pajooh | Aug 2022
SENSITIVE
NET3106 – Network Security
WEEK (10)
Cryptographic Key Management and
Distribution
Sunway University | NET3106 Network Security | Houshyar Honar Pajooh | Aug 2022
SENSITIVE
Contents
• Key Distribution and Management
– Symmetric Key Distribution using Symmetric Encryption
– Symmetric Key Distribution using Asymmetric Encryption
– Distribution of Public Keys
• Digital Certificates
– X.509 Certificates
Key Management
• Challenges
– How to share a secret key?
– How to obtain someone else’s public key?
– When to change keys?
• Assumptions and Principles
– Many users wish to communicate securely across network
– Attacker can intercept any location in network
– Manual interactions between users are undesirable (e.g. physical exchange of keys)
– More times a key is used, greater chance for attacker to discover the key
Cryptographic Key Management
• The secure use of cryptographic key algorithms depends on the
protection of the cryptographic keys
• Cryptographic key management is the process of administering or
managing cryptographic keys for a cryptographic system
– It involves the generation, creation, protection, storage,
exchange, replacement, and use of keys and enables selective
restriction for certain keys
• In addition to access restriction, key management also involves the
monitoring and recording of each key’s access, use, and context
• A key management system will also include key servers, user
procedures, and protocols
• The security of the cryptosystem is dependent upon successful key
management
Key Distribution Technique
• Term that refers to the means of delivering a key to two parties
who wish to exchange data without allowing others to see the
key
• For symmetric encryption to work, the two parties to an
exchange must share the same key, and that key must be
protected from access by others
• Frequent key changes are desirable to limit the amount of data
compromised if an attacker learns the key
Where Should Encryption Be Performed?
• Number of keys to be exchanged depends on number of entities wishing to communicate
• Related issue: where to perform encryption
• Encrypt separately across each link
• Encrypt only at end-points
– Link Encryption
▪ Encrypt data over individual links in network
▪ Each link end-point shares a secret key
▪ Decrypt/Encrypt at each device in path
▪ Requires all links/devices to support encryption
– End-to-End Encryption
▪ Encrypt data at network end-points (e.g. hosts or applications)
▪ Each pair of hosts/applications share a secret key
▪ Does not rely on intermediate network devices
Symmetric Key Distribution
• Given parties A and B, key distribution can be achieved in a number of
ways:
– A can select a key and physically deliver it to B
– A third party can select the key and physically deliver it to A and B
– If A and B have previously and recently used a key, one party can
transmit the new key to the other, encrypted using the old key
– If A and B each has an encrypted connection to a third party C, C
can deliver a key on the encrypted links to A and B
Figure 15.1 Key Distribution Between
Two Communicating Entities
Figure 15.2 Symmetric Key Hierarchy
Figure 15.3 Simple Use of Public-Key
Encryption to Establish a Session Key
Figure 15.4 Another Man-in-the-Middle
Attack
Figure 15.5 Public-Key Distribution of
Secret Keys
Figure 15.6 Uncontrolled Public-Key
Distribution
Figure 15.7 Public-Key Publication
Figure 15.8 Public-Key Distribution
Scenario
Figure 15.9 Exchange of Public-Key
Certificates
X.509 Certificates
• Part of the X.500 series of recommendations that define a directory service
– The directory is, in effect, a server or distributed set of servers that
maintains a database of information about users
• X.509 defines a framework for the provision of authentication services by the
X.500 directory to its users
– Was initially issued in 1988 with the latest revision in 2016
– Based on the use of public-key cryptography and digital signatures
– Does not dictate the use of a specific algorithm but recommends RSA
– Does not dictate a specific hash algorithm
• Each certificate contains the public key of a user and is signed with the
private key of a trusted certification authority
• X.509 defines alternative authentication protocols based on the use of
public-key certificates
Figure 15.10 X.509 Public-Key
Certificate Use
Certificates
Created by a trusted Certification Authority (CA) and have the following
elements:
• Version
• Serial number
• Signature algorithm identifier
• Issuer name
• Period of validity
• Subject name
• Subject’s public-key information
• Issuer unique identifier
• Subject unique identifier
• Extensions
• Signature
Figure 15.11 X.509 Formats
Obtaining a Certificate
• User certificates generated by a CA have the following characteristics:
– Any user with access to the public key of the CA can verify the user
public key that was certified
– No party other than the certification authority can modify the certificate
without this being detected
• Because certificates are unforgeable, they can be placed in a directory
without the need for the directory to make special efforts to protect them
– In addition, a user can transmit his or her certificate directly to other
users
• Once B is in possession of A’s certificate, B has confidence that messages it
encrypts with A’s public key will be secure from eavesdropping and that
messages signed with A’s private key are unforgeable
Figure 15.12 X.509 Hierarchy: A
Hypothetical Example
Certificate Revocation
• Each certificate includes a period of validity
– Typically a new certificate is issued just before the expiration
of the old one
• It may be desirable on occasion to revoke a certificate before it
expires, for one of the following reasons:
– The user’s private key is assumed to be compromised
– The user is no longer certified by this CA
– The CA’s certificate is assumed to be compromised
• Each CA must maintain a list consisting of all revoked but not
expired certificates issued by that CA
– These lists should be posted on the directory
X.509 Version 3
• Version 2 format does not convey all of the information that recent design
and implementation experience has shown to be needed
• Rather than continue to add fields to a fixed format, standards developers
felt that a more flexible approach was needed
– Version 3 includes a number of optional extensions
• The certificate extensions fall into three main categories:
– Key and policy information
– Subject and issuer attributes
– Certification path constraints
Each extension consists of:
• An extension identifier
• A criticality indicator
• An extension value
Key and Policy Information
• These extensions convey additional information about the subject and issuer
keys plus indicators of certificate policy
• A certificate policy is a named set of rules that indicates the applicability of a
certificate to a particular community and/or class of application with
common security requirements
• Included are:
– Authority key identifier
– Subject key identifier
– Key usage
– Private-key usage period
– Certificate policies
– Policy mappings
Certificate Subject and Issuer Attributes
• These extensions support alternative names, in alternative formats,
for a certificate subject or certificate issuer
• Can convey additional information about the certificate subject to
increase a certificate user’s confidence that the certificate subject is a
particular person or entity
• The extension fields in this area include:
– Subject alternative name
– Issuer alternative name
– Subject directory attributes
Certification Path Constraints
• These extensions allow constraint specifications to be included
in certificates issued for CAs by other CAs
• The constraints may restrict the types of certificates that can be
issued by the subject CA or that may occur subsequently in a
certification chain
• The extension fields in this area include:
– Basic constraints
– Name constraints
– Policy constraints
Figure 15.13 P K I Scenario
Summary
• Discuss the concept of a key hierarchy
• Understand the issues involved in using asymmetric encryption
to distribute symmetric keys
• Present an overview of public-key infrastructure concepts
• Present an overview of approaches to public-key distribution
and analyze the risks involved in various approaches
• List and explain the elements in an X.509 certificate
01010001
&
01000001
Sunway University | NET3106 Network Security | Houshyar Honar Pajooh | Aug 2022
SENSITIVE
