Encryption and Cryptography Technology In Network Security

Akindele Olawunmi

DALEWARES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

a creative industry focused polytechnic

ENCRYPTION AND CRYTOGRAPHY IN NETWORK SECURITY

(A case study of Skye Bank PLC)

BY

AKINDELE OLAWUNMI

A project to be submitted to department of networking And system security engineering for the award of NATIONAL INNOVATION DIPLOMA

May, 2012.

May 2012

Encryption and Cryptography Technology In Network Security

Akindele Olawunmi

DALEWARES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

a creative industry focused polytechnic

ENCRYPTION AND CRYTOGRAPHY IN NETWORK SECURITY

(A case study of Skye Bank PLC)

BY

AKINDELE OLAWUNMI

A project to be submitted to department of networking And system security engineering for the award of NATIONAL INNOVATION DIPLOMA

May, 2012.
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DECLARATION

I hereby declared that this project work is based on my original work and personal findings.

SIGNATURE: -------------------------------------------

NAME: ---------------------------------------------------

MATRIC NO: ------------------------------------------

DATE: ---------------------------------------------------

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Akindele Olawunmi

APPROVAL FOR SUBMISSION

I certify that this project report entitled ENCRYTION AND CRYTOGRAPHY IN NETWORK SECURITY was prepared by AKINDELE OLAWUNMI has met the required standard in the submission of the fulfillment for the award of NATIONAL INNOVATION DIPLOMA at DALEWARES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Approved by,

Signature: --------------------------------------

Supervisor: -------------------------------------

Date: --------------------------------------------

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COPY RIGHT

The copyright of this report belongs to the author under the term of the copyright of ACT 1997 as qualified by intellectual property policy of DALEWARES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Due acknowledgement shall always be made of the use of any of the materials contained in, or derived, from this reports. (Copy right) May, 2012. Akindele Olawunmi All right reserved.

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DEDICATION

I specially dedicate this tasking and worth doing project to the Almighty God, the God of yesterday, today and forevermore, and to the entire Akindeles family.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would want to appreciate God for the success of the completion of this project. I would also like to express my gratitude to all my lecturers and to my research supervisor in person of Mr. Fems Steven for his invaluable advice, patience and guidance throughout the development of research.

In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to friends Kunle, Samuel, Chinedu and Shedrack for their support in my life and to my classmate Layo and Co. for their tireless effort. Lastly, my gratitude goes to my loving parent Mr. and Mrs. Akindele for love, kindness and words of encouragements. I say thank you to you all.

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ENCRYPTION AND CRYTOGRAPHY IN NETWORK SECURITY

ABSTRACT

Networking as the name implies is the interconnection of devices be it computing and communicating devices so as to share resources. Resources can either be hardware such as printer, scanner etc and software such as antivirus. As such a network is very important in every organization as the sharing of files will be very easy. For the functionality of a network performance and security are the main issues. Network Security is the way at which your network is been secured. Securing a network can be achieved either by setting password, configure access-list, applying port security, enabling firewalls, setting of SSID etc. All these are part of the way at which network is been secured be it LAN (Local Area Network), WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network).

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Applying all these measures are not a enough prove to avoid network security breach because as the day goes by there a whole lot of work been done by some professional network breakers called hackers whose intentions is to break network and collect useful information using software. To avoid all these, the use of encryption and cryptography technology in network security should be introduced in an organization where clear written password (plaintext) will be changed to encrypted word (cipher text). Files stored in database can also be encrypted so that any no unauthorized access will able to access the stored information. However, every organization should be security conscious on their files because of spies whose intentions is to steal organizations protected useful information. In regard to this, organization such as banks, security firms, IT firms, government establishments etc are to adopt the measure of been security wise. On this note, the Lagos State established bank popularly known as Skye bank PLC, a branch in the Mainland Area of Lagos State was put into consideration. Skye Bank was in inception in the year 1999 and as been in operation since then with its branches spread across the country and even outside the country. Skye bank is known for different operations such as ATM (Automated Teller Machine) services, POS (Point Of Sales) services, Mobile banking, Internet banking, e-cash etc. With all this given to customers there is need for trusted security measure to be put in place such as assigning of PIN (Personal Identification Number) in respect to POS service and other services.

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To guarantee all these measures and other banking affairs across all its branches it is very mandatory that there is an effective and efficient secured network that is put in place to avoid any form of security breaches. To ensure that, it will always be advisable that a database of all files and informations should secured implementing strong security measures such as encryption and cryptography technology where files and informations will be encrypted i.e. (cipher text) and can also be decrypted (plain text).

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------DECLARATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------DEDICATION ----------------------------------------------------------------------------ACKNOWLGEDEMENT --------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS -----------------------------------------------------------------

1 3 4 5 8-10 11

CHAPTER 1 -- INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------------- 12 1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY --------------------------------------------------------------- 13-15 1.2 PROBLEM OF DEFINATION -------------------------------------------------------------- 16 1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT ----------------------------------------------------------------- 17 1.5 BRIEF HISTORY OF SKYE BANK------------------------------------------------------- 17-19

CHAPTER 2 -- LITERATURE REVIEW (TECHNICAL BACKGROUND) ----------- 20 2.1 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------2.2 CONCEPT OF ENCRYPTION AND CRYTOGRAPHY -------------------------2.3 EFFECTIVENESS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES ---------------------------------20 20-26 26-28

CHAPTER 3 -- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (DESIGN ) ------------------------------ 29 3.1 INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------3.2 DESIGN OF ENCRYPTION AND CRYTOGRAPHY TECHNOLOGY --------11

29-30 30-49

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CHAPTER 4 --- IMPLEMENTATION AND DEPLOYMENT --------------------------- 50 4.1 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50-53 4.2 MODE OF DEPLOYMENT ------------------------------------------------------------- 53-55 4.3 IMPLEMENTATION ----------------------------------------------------------------------56-57

CHAPTER 5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION--------------------------------------------------58-59

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND FUTHER IMPLICATION---------------------- 60-61

REFERENCE PAGE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

62

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

These days, as organizations are becoming aware of building networks that will help in communication, data integrity, authentication of data(s), and its non- repudiation. As such there is need for strong security that ought to be put in place so as to check and avoid any form of network threats that will get unauthorized access to organizations resources such as protected information, files and data(s).

Furthermore, in this ever-changing world of global data communications, inexpensive Internet connections, and fast-paced software development, security is becoming more and more of an issue. Security is now a basic requirement because global computing is inherently insecure. As your data goes from point A to point B on the Internet, for example, it may pass through several other points along the way, giving other users the opportunity to intercept, and even alter, it. Even other users on your system may maliciously transform your data into something you did not intend.

Unauthorized access to your system may be obtained by intruders, also known as "crackers", who then use advanced knowledge to impersonate you, steal information from you, or even deny you access to your own resources. Often there has been a need to protect information from 'prying eyes'. In this electronic age, information that could otherwise benefit or educate a group or individual can also be used against such groups or individuals. Industrial espionage among
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highly competitive businesses often requires that extensive security measures should be put into place.

At this adverse, Encryption and Cryptography technology was introduced which has long been used by the militaries and governments to facilitate secret communication. These technologies have now been commonly used in protecting information within many kinds of civilian systems. For example, the Computer Security Institute reported that in 2007, 71% of companies surveyed utilized encryption for some of their data in transit, and 53% utilized encryption for some of their data in storage. Encryption can be used to protect data "at rest", such as files on computers and storage devices (e.g. USB flash drives).

In recent years there have been numerous reports of confidential data such as customers' personal records being exposed through loss or theft of laptops or backup drives. Encrypting such files at rest helps protect them should in case physical security measures fails.

This technology has help protect data in transit, for example data being transferred via networks (e.g. the Internet, e-commerce), mobile telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices and bank automatic teller machines popularly known as ATM. There have been numerous reports of data in transit being intercepted in recent years. Encrypting data in transit also helps to secure it as it is often difficult to physically secure all access to networks.

Cryptography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Secret code" redirects here. For the Aya Kamiki album, see Secret Code.
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Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek , "hidden, secret"; and , graphein, "writing", or -, -logia, "study", respectively) is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries.

More generally, it is about constructing and analyzing protocols that overcome the influence of adversaries and which are related to various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, and authentication.. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce. Cryptography prior to the modern age was almost synonymous with encryption, the conversion of information from a readable state to apparent nonsense.

The sender retained the ability to decrypt the information and therefore avoid unwanted persons being able to read it. Since World War I and the advent of the computer, the methods used to carry out cryptology have become increasingly complex and its application more widespread.

Before the modern era, cryptography was concerned solely with message confidentiality (i.e., encryption)conversion of messages from a comprehensible form into an incomprehensible one and back again at the other end, rendering it unreadable by interceptors or eavesdroppers without secret knowledge (namely the key needed for decryption of that message). Encryption was used to (attempt to) ensure secrecy in communications, such as those of spies, military leaders, and diplomats. In recent decades, the field has expanded beyond confidentiality concerns to include techniques for message integrity checking, sender/receiver identity authentication, digital signatures, interactive proofs and secure computation, among others.

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1.2 PROBLEM OF THE DEFINATION The problem of the study is the efficiency and effectiveness of these technologies is the secret key which is encrypt and decrypt data(s). Within the various sectors be it banking, law, health, IT sectors the problem of network becomes an issue and challenging.

As a result, it is believe that encryption and cryptography technology should completely solve the issue but due to inadequacies of strong network devices such as switches, routers, sophisticated software etc. and weakness of strong security policy put in place there is continuous existence of security breaches which goes along way to affect the network, thus there is need to carry out further research studies into the effectiveness of network security within various organization.

Specifically, this inconclusive study on encryption and cryptography technology on network security policy is the major problem and that is what the study is set out to achieve.

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY The existence of network without adequate and water proof security measures is tantamount to be treading on a dangerous ground. As this is very paramount to network, encryption and cryptography technology which is an important measure in security is meant to enhance connectivity and communication from source to destination but where these technologies are put into practice, its inadequacies can lead to security breaches, non- repudiation and non- integrity of data(s).

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Having realized that the degree of flaws in organization network security which has risen to considerable number traceable to various network threats and the likes. The following are the enlisted points that illustrate the purpose of the study and what the objective is set to achieve are: 1. To determine the performance of encryption and cryptography technology as a means of files and protected information in a secured network in an organization. 2. To determine how effective and efficient this technology will be beneficial to man, society and the whole wide world.

1.4

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The scope of this project is limited to Skye Bank PLC in the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. Moreover, this study deals with the security of the network which goes beyond the affair of the bank. 1.5 BRIEF HISTORY OF SKYE BANK

Skye Bank PLC has evolved into one of the top financial institutions in Nigeria, after its very seamless consolidation exercise in 2006. It operates as a group that provides facets of financial products and services powered by a purpose built technological framework that supports the service delivery process to customers. With a cumulative wealth of experience that spans over 50 years, Skye Bank is historically one of the oldest banks in Nigeria and West Africa. We are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with over 450,000 diverse shareholders with a shareholding structure that puts no more than

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5% in the control of any individual or company. Skye Bank; - has shareholders' fund in excess of N94 billion. - has excellent customer service driven by passionate staff and supported by Investment in world class Information Technology. - has strong Corporate, Commercial, retail and investment banking. - has over 220 online and real-time branches across Nigeria, with presence in Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Guinea Republic. - is a major in player in Telecommunications, Oil & Gas, Power, Manufacturing, Transportation and Infrastructural financing. - has investments in subsidiary and associate companies in growth potential sectors of Insurance, Capital Markets, Mortgage Finance and Trustee/Asset Management. Management The Executive Management is made up of a team of seasoned bankers all of whom have over Many years of varied experience from diverse areas of banking and finance including: - Strategic planning and management - Corporate banking
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- Project finance, development & structured finance - International trade finance - Consumer & retail banking - Audit & Accounting - Treasury & Money market operations The Board of the Bank is comprised of accomplished men and women with proven track record Of integrity and service. The Board provides strategic policy planning and direction, and establishes risk management And internal control systems for the Bank establish and ensure the integrity of the Bank's
Information and accounting systems. The vision of Skye Bank is to continuously challenge ourselves to provide limitless possibilities

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ( TECHNICAL BACKGROUND )

2.1

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter some relevant theoretical empirical literature were reviewed to some give solid background and necessary support to this technologies. The order of such review is as follows: i. ii Concept Of Encryption And Cryptography Its Effectiveness.

2.2 CONCEPT OF ENCRYPTION AND CRYPTOGRAPHY In the ever-changing world of global data communications, inexpensive Internet connections, and fast-paced software development, security is becoming more and more of an issue. Security is now a basic requirement because global computing is inherently insecure. As your data goes from point A to point B on the Internet, for example, it may pass through several other points along the way, giving other users the opportunity to intercept, and even alter, it. Even other users on your system may maliciously transform your data into something you did not intend. Unauthorized access to your system may be obtained by intruders, also known as "crackers", who then use advanced knowledge to impersonate you, steal information from you, or even deny

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you access to your own resources. If you're wondering what the difference is between a "Hacker" and a "Cracker".

Before you attempt to secure your system, you should determine what level of threat you have to protect against, what risks you should or should not take, and how vulnerable your system is as a result. You should analyze your system to know what you're protecting, why you're protecting it, what value it has, and who has responsibility for your data and other assets.

Risk is the possibility that an intruder may be successful in attempting to access your computer. Can an intruder read or write files, or execute programs that could cause damage? Can they delete critical data? Can they prevent you or your company from getting important work done? Don't forget: someone gaining access to your account, or your system, can also impersonate you.

Additionally, having one insecure account on your system can result in your entire network being compromised. If you allow a single user to login using a .rhosts file, or to use an insecure service such as tftp, you risk an intruder getting 'his foot in the door'. Once the intruder has a user account on your system, or someone else's system, it can be used to gain access to another system, or another account.

Threat is typically from someone with motivation to gain unauthorized access to your network or computer. You must decide whom you trust to have access to your system, and what threat they could pose.

There are several types of intruders, and it is useful to keep their different characteristics in mind as you are securing your systems.
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The Curious - This type of intruder is basically interested in finding out what type of system and data you have.

The Malicious - This type of intruder is out to either bring down your systems, or deface your web page, or otherwise force you to spend time and money recovering from the damage he has caused.

The High-Profile Intruder - This type of intruder is trying to use your system to gain popularity and infamy. He might use your high-profile system to advertise his abilities.

The Competition - This type of intruder is interested in what data you have on your system. It might be someone who thinks you have something that could benefit him, financially or otherwise.

The Borrowers - This type of intruder is interested in setting up shop on your system and using its resources for their own purposes. He typically will run chat or irc servers, porn archive sites, or even DNS servers.

The Leap forger - This type of intruder is only interested in your system to use it to get into other systems. If your system is well-connected or a gateway to a number of internal hosts, you may well see this type trying to compromise your system.

Vulnerability describes how well-protected your computer is from another network, and the potential for someone to gain unauthorized access.

What is at stake if someone breaks into your system? Of course the concerns of a dynamic PPP home user will be different from those of a company connecting their machine to the Internet, or another large network.

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How much time would it take to retrieve/recreate any data that was lost? An initial time investment now can save ten times more time later if you have to recreate data that was lost. Have you checked your backup strategy, and verified your data lately?

As such there has been a need to protect information from 'prying eyes'. In the electronic age, information that could otherwise benefit or educate a group or individual can also be used against such groups or individuals. Industrial espionage among highly competitive businesses often requires that extensive security measures be put into place. And, those who wish to exercise their personal freedom, outside of the oppressive nature of governments, may also wish to encrypt certain information to avoid suffering the penalties of going against the wishes of those who attempt to control.

Encryption is a process that takes information and transcribes it into a different form that is unable to read by anyone who does not have the encryption code. Depending on the type of encryption, information can be displayed as various numbers, letters, or symbols.

Those who work in cryptography fields make it their job to encrypt information or to break codes to receive encrypted information.

Data normally comes in plaintext or clear text form. In order to disguise or hide the message from an unintended recipient, some choose to encrypt the data. When one encrypts a message, it becomes unreadable. The encryption converts the plaintext to "cipher text," thereby securing the integrity of the data. The way the process works is that the sender will provide a passphrase to the recipient in a separate email or by secured phone call.

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When the recipient receives the encrypted message, using the passphrase will decrypt the message back to its original clear text or plaintext format. In order to encrypt and decrypt data, one should use a process called cryptography. It is a method using mathematics to store sensitive information. One can transmit the encrypted sensitive information via an unsecured network without fear of compromising the content.

A mathematical function called a "cryptographic algorithm" or a cipher, works in combination with a key, whether that is a word, number or phrase to encrypt a message in plaintext. The plaintext becomes a cipher text using different keys. It is important to use a strong cryptographic algorithm and keep the key or passphrase in secrecy. A key is necessary for encrypting messages into cipher texts. It has a value that works with cryptographic algorithm. Bits measure the size of a key; the bigger the key, the more secure the cipher text is.

In conventional cryptography, the 80-bit key is similar in strength as that of a 1,024-bit key used in public cryptography. It is important when picking keys that they are large enough to be secured but small enough for quick application.

Larger keys stay secure longer than smaller ones. Therefore, it is good to keep this in mind when trying to encrypt a message that would last for many years. The keys used are stored in encrypted form. In the case of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) keys, they are stored in the hard drive as files, called key rings, either as public or private keys. The public keys sent to recipients should be stored in the public key ring, while the private keys that the sender uses should be stored in the private key ring. Losing a private key ring poses a problem in decrypting messages encrypted to keys using that key ring.

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Encryption Program

1.

Securing your data is crucial for protecting your personal information.

Saving data to your hard drive isn't very secure, as anyone can insert a disc to your computer and copy sensitive information. If you're looking to scramble or encrypt the data and information that is on a certain disk of yours, an encryption program is necessary. You can use free open-sourced programs, as well as pricier applications that boast more features for securing your data-sensitive items

True Crypt

2.

True Crypt is a free program that keeps data safe and secure.

True Crypt is a completely free open-sourced program to quickly download and use. True Crypt allows users to encrypt from storage devices (such as USBs and external hard drives), as well as CDs and floppy disks. The program runs on Windows 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.

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2.3 EFFECTIVENESS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES

Encryption and Cryptography technology are both technologies deployed today for securing files, passwords, and folders etc. in organizations where security is the watchword. Most of the time we ask the question WHY DO WE NEED SECURITY OF FILES? .

To answer this various factors would have been put into consideration. Such factors can be

1. Security consciousness of the organization. 2. What is the organization into in terms of product rendering and servicing. 3. What is the communication channel between branched networks.

When all these factors are been put together then the question could be answer. From this point the following could be summarized:-

Think about the number of personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords, or passphrases you use every day: getting money from the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) or using your debit card in a store, logging on to your computer or email, signing in to an online bank account or shopping cart. This list seems to just keep getting longer.

Keeping track of all of the number, letter, and word combinations may be frustrating at times, and one would have wondered if all of the fuss is worth it. After all, what attacker cares about your personal email account. Or why would someone bother with your practically empty bank account when there are others with much more money?

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Often, an attack is not specifically about your account but about using the access to your information to launch a larger attack.

And while having someone gain access to your personal email might not seem like much more than an inconvenience and threat to your privacy, think of the implications of an attacker gaining access to ones social security number or medical records.

One of the best ways to protect information or physical property is to ensure that only authorized people have access to it.

Verifying that someone is the person they claim to be is the next step, and this authentication process is even more important, and more difficult, in the cyber world. Passwords are the most common means of authentication, but if you don't choose good passwords or keep them confidential, they're almost as ineffective as not having any password at all. Many systems and services have been successfully broken into due to the use of insecure and inadequate passwords, and some viruses and worms have exploited systems by guessing weak passwords. As a result of this, password is not the only measure for security when there is need for

1. Data integrity

2. Authentication of data

3. Non repudiation of data.

With these the use of encryption and cryptography technology is the answer which gives good security measures in a way of using either PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) which use Public-key cryptography such that one key for encryption, and one key for decryption. Traditional cryptography, however, uses the same key for encryption and decryption; this key must be known to both parties, and thus somehow transferred from one to the other securely.
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To alleviate the need to securely transmit the encryption key, public-key encryption uses two separate keys: a public key and a private key.

Each person's public key is available by anyone to do the encryption, while at the same time each person keeps his or her private key to decrypt messages.

DES (Data Encryption Standard) is use to encrypt passwords. This encrypted password is then stored in (typically) /etc/passwd (or less commonly) /etc/shadow. When you attempt to login, the password you type in is encrypted again and compared with the entry in the file that stores the passwords. If they match, it must be the same password, and you are allowed access. Although DES is a two-way encryption algorithm (you can code and then decode a message, given the right keys).

IPSEC IMPLEMENTATIONS: - IPSEC is an effort by the IETF to create cryptographicallysecure communications at the IP network level, and to provide authentication, integrity, access control, and confidentiality. These services allow you to build secure tunnels through untrusted networks. Everything passing through the untrusted net is encrypted by the IPSEC gateway machine and decrypted by the gateway at the other end. The result is Virtual Private Network or VPN. This is a network which is effectively private even though it includes machines at several different sites connected by the insecure Internet.

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CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (DESIGN ) 3.1 INTODUCTION In this chapter, research methodology i.e. design of these technologies was treated. This chapter explains how both technologies can be implemented. As we have been exposed to what these technologies was all about such as its definition, its usefulness and the likes then the research methodology should be treated in its fledge. Often there is need to Often there has been a need to protect information from 'prying eyes'. In this electronic age, information that could otherwise benefit or educate a group or individual can also be used against such groups or individuals. Industrial espionage among highly competitive businesses often requires that extensive security measures be put into place. And, those who wish to exercise their personal freedom, outside of the oppressive nature of governments, may also wish to encrypt certain information to avoid suffering the penalties of going against the wishes of those who attempt to control. As such the method of encryptions is summarized below:Traditionally, several methods can be used to encrypt data streams, all of which can easily be implemented through software, but not so easily decrypted when either the original or its encrypted data stream are unavailable. (When both source and encrypted data are available, code-breaking becomes much simpler, though it is not necessarily easy).

The best encryption methods have little effect on system performance, and may contain other benefits (such as data compression) built in. The well-known 'PKZIP' utility offers both
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compression AND data encryption in this manner. Also DBMS packages have often included some kind of encryption scheme so that a standard 'file copy' cannot be used to read sensitive information that might otherwise require some kind of password to access. They also need 'high performance' methods to encode and decode the data.

3.2

DESIGN

Encryption methods can be SYMMETRIC in which encryption and decryption keys are the same, or ASYMMETRIC (aka 'Public Key') in which encryption and decryption keys differ. 'Public Key' methods must be asymmetric, to the extent that the decryption key CANNOT be easily derived from the encryption key. Symmetric keys, however, usually encrypt more efficiently, so they lend themselves to encrypting large amounts of data. Asymmetric encryption is often limited to ONLY encrypting asymmetric key and other information that is needed in order to decrypt a data stream, and the remainder of the encrypted data uses the symmetric key method for performance reasons. This does not in any way diminish the security nor the ability to use a public key to encrypt the data, since the symmetric key method is likely to be even MORE secure than the asymmetric method.

SYMMETRIC METHOD

For symmetric key ciphers, there are basically two types: BLOCK CIPHERS, in which a fixed length block is encrypted, and STREAM CIPHERS, in which the data is encrypted one 'data unit' (typically 1 byte) at a time, in the same order it was received in. Fortunately, the simplest of all of the symmetric key 'stream cipher' methods is the TRANSLATION TABLE (or 'S table'),

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which should easily meet the performance requirements of even the most performance-intensive application that requires data to be encrypted.

In a translation table, each 'chunk' of data (usually 1 byte) is used as an offset within one or more arrays, and the resulting 'translated' value is then written into the output stream. The encryption and decryption programs would each use a table that translates to and from the encrypted data.

While translation tables are very simple and fast, the down side is that once the translation table is known, the code is broken. Further, such a method is relatively straightforward for code breakers to decipher - such code methods have been used for years, even before the advent of the computer. Still, for general "unread ability" of encoded data, without adverse effects on performance, the 'translation table' method lends itself well.

A modification to the 'translation table' uses 2 or more tables, based on the position of the bytes within the data stream, or on the data stream itself. Decoding becomes more complex, since you have to reverse the same process reliably. But, by the use of more than one translation table, especially when implemented in a 'pseudo-random' order, this adaptation makes code breaking relatively difficult.

An example of this method might use translation table 'A' on all of the 'even' bytes, and translation table 'B' on all of the 'odd' bytes. Unless a potential code breaker knows that there are exactly 2 tables, even with both source and encrypted data available the deciphering process is relatively difficult. Similar to using a translation table, 'data repositioning' lends itself to use by a computer, but takes considerably more time to accomplish. This type of cipher would be a trivial example of a BLOCK CIPHER. A buffer of data is read from the input, then the order of the
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bytes (or other 'chunk' size) is rearranged, and written 'out of order'. The decryption program then reads this back in, and puts them back 'in order'. Often such a method is best used in combination with one or more of the other encryption methods mentioned here, making it even more difficult for code breakers to determine how to decipher your encrypted data. As an example, consider an anagram. The letters are all there, but the order has been changed. Some anagrams are easier than others to decipher, but a well written anagram is a brain teaser nonetheless, especially if it is intentionally misleading

PUBLIC KEY ENCRYPTION ALGORITHMS

One very important feature of a good encryption scheme is the ability to specify a 'key' or 'password' of some kind, and have the encryption method alter itself such that each 'key' or 'password' produces a unique encrypted output, one that also requires a unique 'key' or 'password' to decrypt.

This can either be a symmetric or asymmetric key. The popular 'PGP' public key encryption, and the 'RSA' encryption that it's based on, uses an 'asymmetrical' key, allowing you to share the 'public' encryption key with everyone, while keeping the 'private' decryption key safe. The encryption key is significantly different from the decryption key, such that attempting to derive the private key from the public key involves too many hours of computing time to be practical. It would NOT be impossible, just highly unlikely, which is 'pretty good'.

RSA ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM

In the case of the RSA encryption algorithm, it uses very large prime numbers to generate the public key and the private key. Although it would be possible to factor out the public key to get
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the private key (a trivial matter once the 2 prime factors are known), the numbers are so large as to make it very impractical to do so.

The encryption algorithm itself is ALSO very slow, which makes it impractical to use RSA to encrypt large data sets. So PGP (and other RSA-based encryption schemes) encrypt a symmetrical key using the public key, and then encrypt the remainder of the data with a faster algorithm using the symmetrical key. The symmetrical itself key is randomly generated, so that the only (theoretical) way to get it would be by using the private key to decrypt the RSAencrypted symmetrical key.

DATA ENCRYPTION ALGORITHMS

The data encryption algorithm is used to encrypt part of the messages, including the body and the signature. Data encryption algorithms specify the algorithm uniform resource identifier (URI) for each type of data encryption algorithms.

The following pre-configured data encryption algorithms are supported: Data encryption algorithm name WSSEncryption.AES128 (the default value) WSSEncryption.AES192 Algorithm URI A URI of data encryption algorithm, AES 128: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#aes128-cbc A URI of data encryption algorithm, AES 192: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#aes192-cbc A URI of data encryption algorithm, AES 256: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#aes256-cbc

WSSEncryption.AES256

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Data encryption algorithm name WSS Encryption. TRIPLE_DES

Algorithm URI A URI of data encryption algorithm, TRIPLE DES: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#tripledes-cbc

KEY ENCRYPTION ALGORITHMS This algorithm is used to encrypt and decrypt keys. This key information is used to specify the configuration that is needed to generate the key for digital signature and encryption. The signing information and encryption information configurations can share the key information. The key information on the consumer side is used for specifying the information about the key that is used for validating the digital signature in the received message or for decrypting the encrypted parts of the message. The request generator is configured for the client.

Key encryption algorithms specify the algorithm uniform resource identifier (URI) of the key encryption method. The following pre-configured key encryption algorithms are supported:

Table 2. Supported pre-configured key encryption algorithms. The algorithms are used to encrypt and decrypt keys. WSS API WSSEncryption.KW_AES128 URI A URI of key encryption algorithm, key wrap AES 128: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#kw-aes128 A URI of key encryption algorithm, key wrap AES 192: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#kw-aes192

WSSEncryption.KW_AES192

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Table 2. Supported pre-configured key encryption algorithms. The algorithms are used to encrypt and decrypt keys. WSS API WSSEncryption.KW_AES256 URI A URI of key encryption algorithm, key wrap AES 256: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#kw-aes256

WSSEncryption. KW_RSA_OAEP (the A URI of key encryption algorithm, key wrap RSA default value) OAEP: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-oaepmgf1p WSSEncryption.KW_RSA15 A URI of key encryption algorithm, key wrap RSA 1.5: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5 A URI of key encryption algorithm, key wrap TRIPLE DES: http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#kwtripledes

WSSEncryption.KW_TRIPLE_DES

CRYTOGRAPHY TECHNOLOGY

There are many aspects to security and many applications, ranging from secure commerce and payments to private communications and protecting passwords. One essential aspect for secure communications is that of cryptography, which the focus of this section is. But it is important to note that cryptography is compulsory for secure communication. It is the method of writing in secret code. In data and telecommunications, cryptography is necessary when communicating over any untrusted medium, which includes just about any network, particularly the Internet. Within the context of any application-to-application communication, there are some specific security requirements, including:

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Authentication: The process of proving one's identity. (The primary forms of host-to-host authentication on the Internet today are name-based or addressbased, both of which are notoriously weak.)

Privacy/confidentiality: Ensuring that no one can read the message except the intended receiver.

Integrity: Assuring the receiver that the received message has not been altered in any way from the original.

Non-repudiation: A mechanism to prove that the sender really sent this message.

TYPES OF CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS There are several ways of classifying cryptographic algorithms. For purposes of this paper, they will be categorized based on the number of keys that are employed for encryption and decryption, and further defined by their application and use. The three types of algorithms that will be discussed below:

Secret Key Cryptography (SKC): Uses a single key for both encryption and decryption Public Key Cryptography (PKC): Uses one key for encryption and another for decryption Hash Functions: Uses a mathematical transformation to irreversibly "encrypt" information.

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This fig shows the 3 types of cryptography: hash function, secret key and public key.

SECRET KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY

With secret key cryptography, a single key is used for both encryption and decryption. As shown in Figure 1A, the sender uses the key (or some set of rules) to encrypt the plaintext and sends the cipher text to the receiver. The receiver applies the same key (or rule set) to decrypt the message and recover the plaintext. Because a single key is used for both functions, secret key cryptography is also called symmetric encryption. With this form of cryptography, it is obvious that the key must be known to both the sender and the receiver; that, in fact, is the secret. The biggest difficulty with this approach, of course, is the distribution of the key. Secret key
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cryptography schemes are generally categorized as being either stream ciphers or block ciphers. Stream ciphers operate on a single bit (byte or computer word) at a time and implement some form of feedback mechanism so that the key is constantly changing. A block cipher is so-called because the scheme encrypts one block of data at a time using the same key on each block. In general, the same plaintext block will always encrypt to the same cipher text when using the same key in a block cipher whereas the same plaintext will encrypt to different cipher text in a stream cipher.

Stream ciphers come in several flavors but two are worth mentioning here. Self-synchronizing stream ciphers calculate each bit in the key stream as a function of the previous n bits in the key stream. It is termed "self-synchronizing" because the decryption process can stay synchronized with the encryption process merely by knowing how far into the n-bit key stream it is. One problem is error propagation; a garbled bit in transmission will result in n garbled bits at the receiving side. Synchronous stream ciphers generate the key stream in a fashion independent of the message stream but by using the same key stream generation function at sender and receiver. While stream ciphers do not propagate transmission errors, they are, by their nature, periodic so that the key stream will eventually repeat.

Block ciphers can operate in one of several modes; the following four are the most important:

Electronic Codebook (ECB) mode is the simplest, most obvious application: the secret key is used to encrypt the plaintext block to form a cipher text block. Two identical plaintext blocks, then, will always generate the same cipher text block. Although this is

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the most common mode of block ciphers, it is susceptible to a variety of brute-force attacks

Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode adds a feedback mechanism to the encryption scheme. In CBC, the plaintext is exclusively-ORed (XORed) with the previous cipher text block prior to encryption. In this mode, two identical blocks of plaintext never encrypt to the same cipher text.

Cipher Feedback (CFB) mode is a block cipher implementation as a self-synchronizing stream cipher. CFB mode allows data to be encrypted in units smaller than the block size, which might be useful in some applications such as encrypting interactive terminal input. If we were using 1-byte CFB mode, for example, each incoming character is placed into a shift register the same size as the block, encrypted, and the block transmitted. At the receiving side, the cipher text is decrypted and the extra bits in the block (i.e., everything above and beyond the one byte) are discarded

Secret key cryptography algorithms that are in use today include:

Data Encryption Standard (DES): The most common SKC scheme used today, DES was designed by IBM in the 1970s and adopted by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) [now the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST)] in 1977 for commercial and unclassified government applications. DES is a block-cipher employing a 56-bit key that operates on 64-bit blocks. DES has a complex set of rules and transformations that were designed specifically to yield fast hardware implementations and slow software implementations, although this latter point is becoming less significant

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